Growing up in Haven City
by Usagi-Zakura
Summary: Four children lives in Haven City before and under the barons rule. They are al related to Praxis somehow but not all of them agrees with his exteme methods.
1. The Dinner party

**CHAPTER ONE**

**A NEW COMMANDER**

Haven city: 200 years after founding. Month one 

Told by Maria

Haven city.

A safe spot for everyone who wishes to avoid the metal heads terror.

This city was founded by one of my ancestors, Mar, to keep these monsters at bay.

Today the city is ruled by my uncle Jacob, he's a good leader and the people love him.

It was easy to see this very day, the celebration of Haven City's 200 year anniversary.

Approximately the whole town was gathered to celebrate, and there was of course Jacob, he had arranged a large parade.

Right now he was standing in a large carriage protected on each side by armed crimson guards, some at foot, others in the carriage, and some on zoomers flying by the carriage.

Myself, I was standing behind the line with my five year old daughter, Kate.

She was hanging in the rope that kept the citizens from walking in the way of the carriages, hoping to catch a glimpse of her uncle.

"Mom? Is Uncle Jacob in that big boat?" she asked.

"It's not a boat dear, it's a carriage" I said and lifted her up on my shoulders, "you see him now?"

"I see him! In the carriage!" Kate shouted and waved,"hey uncle!"

It seemed like Jacob saw her, because he smiled and waved back, and then he turned and talked to a crimson guard sitting next to him.

"Hey mom, isn't that Uncle Cedrik sitting in there?" Kate asked.

She was right; it was my husband's older brother who was sitting next to Jacob.

I didn't recognize him at first, no surprise really.

It was three weeks ago he came back from his last mission, a direct suicide attack on the metal head nest.

Cedrik was the sole survivor, and he was far from unhurt.

Even from this distance I noticed a large percent of his face was covered in metal.

The carriage drove up to a scene that had been put up especially for today.

As soon as it stopped, Jacob walked out, followed by an escort of four crimson guards in red armor and Cedrik, whom as far as I could see wasn't wearing his uniform.

The people cheered as the six elves walked down to the scene and when Jacob raised his hand they quickly stopped.

"My dear fellow citizens" he started his speech, "today its 200 years since my dear ancestor Mar founded this glorious city, and it has never looked more glorious!"

The people cheered again, I guess it's true what Jacob said, some of the citizens often called the city Heaven City, instead of haven.

Jacob waited patiently till the people had calmed down before he continued his speech.

"I've been king of this city for six years, since my father's tragic death, and this time has been a wonderful time for me and this city" he said, "but during the last few weeks, we have been shaken by another terrible tragedy, when the commander of the crimson guards planned an attack that would change our war luck in this war against the metal heads, an attack on the metal head nest itself"

I noticed quite a few people around me was crying, even the crimson guards looked shaken; Cedrik turned over and looked in another direction.

"I guess you already know the attack was a failure, and I'm really sorry for all of you who have lost your friends and family during this attack" Jacob continued, "among them was also our beloved commander, Nick Jackson, rumors say he was killed by the metal head-leader in person"

Some of the audience cheered, to be killed by a metal head was one thing, being killed by their leader or even having seen him was something completely different.

As soon as the cheering stopped, Jacob kept talking.

"Only one brave man survived this tragedy, and he is standing right next to me, our new crimson guard commander, Cedrik Praxis"

I can't remember hearing anyone cheer as loud as the people of Haven City did now.

"Did you hear that mom? Uncle is the boss of the crimson cars!" said Kate.

"It's called crimson guard honey" I answered, "I heard it"

"I wanna go congratulate him" said Kate, and before I could stop her, she ran under the blockade and straight towards the scene.

Some of the guards turned to stop him but Cedrik, who until now hadn't said a word, told them to let her pass, "leave her, she's my niece" he said.

"Mine too" said Jacob and smiled.

Cedrik bent down and lifted Kate up on the scene.

"Hello there, I haven't seen you for a while" he said, "how is your father?"

"He's didn't feel well" Kate answered, "he had to stay home, but I'll tell him about your new job"

"You do that" said Cedrik, "where's your mom?"

"I'm right here Cedrik" I said and walked up to the scene, "or should I say commander Cedrik?"

Cedrik laughed, "If you want to" he answered.

"This is a great opportunity to invite you all to my dinner party tonight, what do you say, is Ronny feeling well enough to come?" asked Jacob.

"He wouldn't miss it if he had every illness in the world" I answered, "We'll be there".

"I'm not sure if I can" said Cedrik, "my wife's brother and he's family is visiting, so I should rather spend the day with them. I never got the time to see them much during my period on the hospital".

"Then you should bring them along" Jacob said cheerful, "we've got enough room for everyone".

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea" said Cedrik, "I don't think Jonathans oldest son would suit in a party like that"

"Come on Cedrik, surely he can't be that bad?" said Jacob, "I'm ready to take the risk, and if anything goes wrong just blame me"

"Fine, it's your house" said Cedrik, "I'll go ask them, they are probably around here somewhere".

He walked down from the scene towards three adults and three children standing by the scene.

One of them was his wife Alicia, I knew her well. A red-haired girl at Kate's age was holding her hand.

Another woman and a man who looked quite similar to Alicia was standing next to them, the man was trying to keep two small boys from running out on the streets. One of them, a six-year old orange-haired boy wearing an orange shirt and a pair of racing-goggles, was chasing his younger brother, a four-year old boy with brown and black-striped hair, wearing a way to large red sweater, a pair of large blue pants and a big blue hat.

Cedrik talked to them for a while, Jacob, Kate and I followed him.

"I don't think you've met my family yet" said Cedrik to Jacob when we approached, "this is my wife Alicia, our daughter Ashelin, my brother-in-law Jonathan Elfin, his wife Karla and their sons, Erol and Cornelius"

"Pleasule to met yah" said Cornelius and saluted Jacob, making the sleeve of his sweater fall over his face.

"We'd be honored to join your party your majesty" said Alicia.

"Just call me Jacob madam" said Jacob, "that's what my friends and family call me"

"Is Kate coming too mom?" asked Ashelin, "cause if she's not going I'm not going either"

"Of course she's coming" said Cedrik and lifted his daughter up in his arms, "and afterwards, we're gonna celebrate daddy's new position. What do you say if we go buy you that stuffed crocadog you always wanted?"

"Yes daddy! Can we do that?" Ashelin said excited.

"Can you buy morph gun for me too uncle?" asked Erol.

"In your dreams Erol" said Cedrik, "we'd better get home and prepare ourselves for the big night"

**CHAPTER 2**

**THE BIG NIGHT**

Haven City: 200 years after founding. That night

Told by Kate

Daddy really wanted to some with us to the party, although mom almost had to carry him out the front door and into the zoomer.

The palace was in the centre of the city and was the most beautiful house I knew.

I had been there many times before of course, to visit my aunt and uncle.

We were welcomed by the guards guarding the front door and when we got in, uncle Cedrik and his family was waiting in the living room.

Erol and Cornelius were running around on the floor while Erol was trying to hit his brother with a water gun although their mom tried to stop him.

"Erol! Stop bothering your brother this instant!" she shouted,"we're in a nice party so behave! Both of you!"

"But it's so boring just sitting here!" Erol complained.

"Why can't you just play a bit more peaceful?" Karla asked,"you could play with Kate and Ashelin"

"Oh yeah! We could play hide and seek!" suggested Ashelin.

"I want to play" I said.

"Me two!" said Cornelius,"come on Ewol!"

"Hide and seek is for babies!" said Erol, "I want to play thief and crimson guard!" he shoot a water beam up in the roof before his father took the gun from him.

"Now I don't want anymore funny stuff from you young man" he said angry.

"Relax, let the kid play!"

Uncle Jacob came in, along with Aunt Isabelle.

"I'm sorry you maje... Jacob" said Jonathan, "but when he runs around like that... he could break something!"

"It cam be replaced" Jacob said and laughed, "don't worry, boys are boys".

Jonathan seemed a bit surprised by Jacobs's oblivious attitude.

That's my uncle, he loves children.

Unfortunately he and Isabelle haven't been able to get any themselves yet.

It seems like the stork doesn't know where they live, that's a bit weird, because everyone else knows and the palace is quite big and it's very difficult not to see it, especially if you fly.

Uncle Cedrik started laughing, "right now I'm glad I have a girl and not a boy" he said.

"You don't know what you are talking about" said Karla when Cornelius crawled up on her lap, "if you raise them properly they are little angels"

"In other words: you are lousy parents" said Erol.

"Well said Erol" said Jacob, "why don't we go into the hall? The food should be ready by now"

We all went in to the hall and sat down by a long table, a large turkey had been put on it.

Great, I hate turkey.

"I know someone here might not like turkey" Jacob added with a smile, "so you can help yourselves to some hot dogs"

One of the servants came in and placed a plate full of hot dogs on the table.

"And what if we don't like hot dogs then?" asked Erol.

"What awe you talking bout Ewol? You love hod dogs!" said Cornelius.

"I said _if_!" said Erol, "_if_ we don't like hot dogs, what do we get?"

"You'll starve" Jacob said and laughed.

So we all filled our plates with food, turkey for the adults, hot dogs for the kids.

Even dad took a hot dog; he never liked turkey, like me.

While we were eating, talking and having a good time (except Erol who kept complaining it was boring just sitting there at the table) none of us thought anything terrible would happen.

Until...

"What's that smell?" asked Karla,"it smells burnt"

Suddenly one of Jacobs's maidens came running into the hall.

"Jacob! Isabelle! There's a fire in the basement!" she shouted.

"Did you try putting it out?" asked Jacob.

"We tried, but its spreading fast!" the maiden said scared.

"No panic please, everyone get out. Call the fire brigade" said Jacob and the maiden ran at her top speed towards the exit.

"Wait! Where is Cornelius?" Karla asked and looked around.

"He went to the toilet" said Jonathan, "this is not good".

Suddenly we heard a large boom and flames broke through the door into the kitchen.

"CORNELIUS!" shouted Karla.

"I'll go look for him" said Jacob, he grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and ran towards the basement stairs.

"Come on, we better get out" said Jonathan and grabbed his shaking wife.

"I wanna help him!" said Erol before his father grabbed him too.

Dad picked me up and carried me out; he seemed to forget all about being sick.

When we came out the crimson guards had already entered the scene to put out the fire.

"Jacob is still in there" said Isabelle when they got out of their zoomers, "along with a small boy"

"Got it, send in a squad" their leader said and five guards wearing fire proof uniforms and large water tanks ran in to the building.

"Is uncle and Cornelius gonna die?" I asked my dad.

"Of course not sweetheart" my father answered, "they'll be fine, but you got to have faith in them".

I tried, but it was not easy. Some people say kids have faith in anything, but seeing the whole palace on fire, was enough to take hope away from anyone.

Karla cried unstoppable, Jonathan and the Praxis-family tried to comfort her with little luck.

Uncle Cedrik was the only one who didn't seem worried.

Mom said it was because he was used to this kind of stuff being a crimson guard.

Only minutes after the fire brigade arrived, the five guards who entered the house came out.

They where carrying something that looked like a pile of clothes.

"Cornelius!" Karla shouted and ran towards the guard to see her son, "is he... how is he... he's not..."

"He's fine" said the guard and Cornelius made a coughing sound to confirm it.

"But... what about Jacob?" asked my aunt.

The guard didn't answer.


	2. Trouble in paradise

**CHAPTER 3**

**MEMORIES**

Haven City: still 200 years after founding. Month two

Told by Maria

The accident was on the news for weeks afterwards.

The biggest problem now was finding a suitable heir to the throne; I had no plans of ruling the city. I would never make it.

The second choice fell on Kate, but she was only five years old.

So until she grew older or another heir was found, Cedrik Praxis took over.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

According to Ronny, the best thing to do was just to live normal.

It was strange, but already back then I knew things would never be normal after this.

In his speeches, Cedrik used to say this was the start of a new era, and that he alone would defeat the metal heads.

It all sounded great, but I couldn't loose the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

A month had past and things seemed to settle down.

Everyday life started to go back to normal, although Kate kept asking why Cedrik had hired so many new crimson guards.

She was right, earlier you could maybe see one lonely guard on his way to work; now you saw at least two every time you turned around.

Cedrik said it was for extra security.

He was convinced the fire in Jacobs's house had been started by terrorists and had to make sure nothing like that would happen again.

Some citizens agreed, but even more meant he had lost his mind.

Cornelius made it a habit of running crying out of the room whenever it was mentioned.

Ronny on the other hand, kept saying that his brother would get the city up and running in no time.

"There was nothing wrong with the city while Jacob ruled it" I said one day while we where eating.

"I don't mean to say that your uncle was incapable of ruling the town Maria, but you got to admit he could have done more to stop the criminality" Ronny answered, "if he had done that, the fire may never have..."

"I know. If he had been more careful the fire would never have started" I finished, "why can't we talk about something else for once?"

"A boy at school said uncle was lying" said Kate, "he heard it of his parents"

"Well they're wrong" said Ronny, "you just tell him, if they're messing with your uncle they can actually get punished"

"They're not teasing you are they sweety?" I asked.

"No, its mostly Ashelin" said Kate, "I've tried to help her, and Erol and Cornelius keeps shooting all the kids teasing her with their water guns, I've even heard Erol wants a soft gun"

"I thought those were only for adults?" I asked.

"That boy would have played with a peacemaker if he got hold of one" Ronny added with a laugh, "but it may even be smart these days, I'm sure he and his little brother will make great crimson guards when they come of age. It helps to start training early, even if they only use water guns"

"I don't think kids should be exploited for violence that early" I said. "Send me the potatoes, please"

"They can handle it" said Ronny, ignoring the potatoes, "besides, you won't make a good guard if you don't want to kill anything. How are you going to defeat the metal heads?"

"They could hurt someone!" I complained,"kids like that don't always know the difference between good and bad!"

"I never said we should give guns to three-year-olds!" said Ronny, "but I would think a six-year-old like Erol would know what to shoot. Actually, Cedrik is already planning to let younger kids into the crimson schools", he gave me the potatoes. I didn't take them.

"I think I need a nap" I said, "You can do the dishes".

I walked up to our bedroom, but I didn't go to sleep.

Instead I found an old photo album.

"Are you alright mommy?"

Kate walked in the door.

"Of course honey, I was just thinking of old days" I said and sat down on the bed with the pictures, Kate sat down next to me.

I opened the first page; it showed me and Ronny on our wedding day.

I remembered it all to well, Ronny had ordered all the most expensive food, later it came clear nobody wanted it so he was forced to eat it himself.

Since then he always despised turkey and other fancy food.

"Is it true daddy puked on the wedding night?" asked Kate.

"He sure did" I said giggling, "Afterwards we laughed at it. It was the happiest day of my life. Fine, second happiest" I said as I opened the next page.

It was a picture of me at the hospital, Ronny sat on a chair next to my bed holding a small yellow-haired infant.

"That's me!" said Kate, "when all my hair was yellow"

"You were so cute back then" I said, "and you still is, with your little bright green hair in front of your ears, it shows you're a heir of Havens biggest hero"

I opened the next page, this picture showed a terrified Kate holding around the neck of a bright blue flut-flut-bird

"That's you on Tiny Blue" I said, "remember that?"

"It was so much fun!" said Kate, "as soon as I stopped being scared. Tiny is the cutest little bird in the world.

Little was really true, although Tiny Blue was huge compared to other birds he's the smallest flut-flut known to elves, his owner, Charlie (who happened to be Erol and Cornelius' uncle) said he would never be big enough to be ridden by adults.

He was only used as training bird for kids.

The next picture showed Kate on Tiny Blue again, this time she looked more confident.

Ashelin was there to, she rode a much bigger but nice flut-flut named Fluffy.

"Can we go back to the flut-flut-ranch one day mom?" asked Kate.

"Of course hon, when we can afford it. We can't just get a transport outside the city" I said, "We have to beware of the metal heads".

"Mom, where do metal heads come from?" asked Kate.

"Nobody knows" I said and closed the album, "we do know they appeared first in a small village called Sandover Village. Long before Haven was built".

"Where is that village?" Kate asked,"does it still exist?"

"It was destroyed during the first attack" I answered, "but most of the inhabitants survived, Mar was one of them too you know. He came back later and built Haven City upon the ruins of the old village"

"He made the eco shield too right?" said Kate, "a guy from the power station came by our school and told us"

"That's right, he's a smart man that grandfather of yours" I said.

"By the way, did Mar have a flut-flut?" Kate asked.

I had to laugh, no matter what someone tried to tell Kate, she always managed to get a flut-flut in the conversation.

"I think so. He had a nice flut-flut-bird" I said, "she was looked after by one of the ancestors of old Charlie down at the ranch, and after Mar died she stayed at his farm and got lots of small flut-flut-babies"

"Is that flut-flut still alive?" asked Kate.

"No sweetheart, flut-fluts live for a long time but not that long" I answered.

"When I grow older I'm gonna buy myself a flut-flut" said Kate, "maybe I should buy Tiny Blue? He already knows me well"

"Of course you can, then you can ride him every day" I said.

Then we both started laughing, and I felt happier than I had done in weeks.

**CHAPTER 4**

**FAMILY TROUBLE**

Haven City: 208 years after founding. Month four

Kate

"There she is".

"Where?"

"There, next to that green and yellow-haired girl"

The whispering followed us all the way trough the school yard.

"Hey Ashelin! Where's your escort? Does you father really want to risk you being attacked by metal heads?"

"Just ignore them" I said to Ashelin.

"You don't have to tell me" she answered, "They have been doing this for years. You'd think they would get bored of this some day"

"Why don't you tell your father" I asked, "he could have stopped them"

"He'll just overreact" said Ashelin, "I guess they are right when they say he's a bit paranoid"

"My dad says he is just being careful" I said.

"I knew he would say that, uncle Ronny is his own brother's biggest fan" Ashelin said and laughed, "unlike someone else we know"

"Speaking of which, heard from Erol and Cornelius lately?"

"Nope" Ashelin answered, "not since they went to that school. Except that Cornelius have been kicked out"

"He's what? Why?" I asked in surprise.

About two years ago Cedrik opened a new school for children who wanted to become crimson guards, I found it quite weird that someone could be kicked out, since it seemed like violence was rewarded.

"My father said he didn't have the qualities required" "whatever that means, he is just as violent as his brother"

"Where is he now?" I looked around the schoolyard as if I would be able to see him, "has he gone back to his old school?"

"No, not that I know" Ashelin answered, "Dad says if he can't become a guard, he can't become anything. So he's just at home now at days"

Sounds like a load of crazy talk. Then again, everything Cedrik said sounded way of track. He might be my uncle, but that doesn't have to mean I have to adore him (although my father does).

"I know it's stupid" Ashelin said before I was able to answer, "He doesn't have to be a guard, does he? Then again, if my father keeps on with his actions, that will be the only profession left in a few years"

We stopped talking as a crimson guard passed us.

As soon as he had disappeared Ashelin burst out "now they've come to the school to! Where is this gonna stop?"

"The baron does not stop until the entire city is in the guard" I said.

"You bet" answered Ashelin.

That day we had a visit from the crimson guard commander, (again)

He told everyone of his "noble" profession and he said he hoped every one of us should join.

In other words, the same propaganda we heard every day from the radio boxes baron Praxis had put up all over the city.

"I would like to know how much he got paid to say that" whispered Tetra, the girl sitting next to me, (we where four students on each desk, Ashelin was sitting closest to the window, I sat next to her, on Tetras other side a boy called Jinx was sitting), "do you think metal heads take in any more members?"

"They would love you" said Jinx, "as lunch, I think the crimson guards would do the same actually"

Before Tetra got to say an extremely cruel word the guard noticed we weren't listening.

"Who's talking back there?" he asked strict.

"Sorry commander, we were just talking about which squad we would join when we joined the guard" Tetra answered quickly while holding Jinx's mouth closed, "not to mention what a great and handsome leader you are, are there more cute guys like you in the guard?"

I giggled, if it something Tetra knows its how to suck up to someone.

I also noticed the guard was turning red, it didn't seem to matter much that Tetra was only thirteen.

"Another jerk" she whispered as soon as the guard started talking again, "that's why your cousin didn't get in; the crimson school is for morons only"

We all started giggling except Jinx who almost laughed his head off and got thrown out of the classroom.

When I got home that day I heard noises coming from the kitchen.

Mom and dad were fighting again.

They did it quite a lot these days, I didn't want to listen but as I passed the closed door I heard my name being mentioned and stopped.

"This is about her future! Haven City's future!" I heard dad say.

"She's just a kid!" mom's voice, obviously, "I refuse to send my daughter away like that!"

"You know perfectly well she's not a baby anymore! She's got the right to decide for herself!" dad shouted.

"This is not what she wants, it's what you want!" mom said, "You and that creep of a brother you have! Kate's not going! She should be with her friends, those who are left!"

"That's the point!" dad answered, "Half of her friends are already gone, and the rest will follow. Cedrik has decided to send Ashelin too in only a few days", he tried talking with a calm voice, "she'll like it there, the crimson school has the best teachers and the intern has the best computers for school use"

"Children are not supposed to do nothing but school work" said mom, "you should know that, skipping school every second week. My daughter is not going into baron Praxis' private army!"

I had heard enough, I ran up to my room.

It's true many of my friends had been sent to crimson school and I had rarely heard from them since.

Some of them had sent a few letters but after a while they never got time because of all the schoolwork, one thing was for sure, not one of them liked the school.

The crimson school was said to be the best school in town, but also the strictest, the students had to go to school six days a week from early morning to late at night, Sundays was used for homework.

I didn't want to go, I refused to go! My father couldn't make me.

I don't know how long I had been in bed thinking over and over again, "I'm not going! I'm not going!" it felt like minutes when my mom came in, she still seemed very angry.

"Pack your things" she said.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Away! I can't take this anymore!" mom said angry, "how dare he suggest anything like that? He has to be insane!"

I decided not to ask, it would probably just make matters worse, I packet the photo album I had on my night table, including a frame with the old picture of me and Ashelin with Tiny Blue and Spot in a bag, the stuffed toys was put in the back pack.

All of them, except the teddy bear I got from uncle Cedrik on my seven-year birthday.

Mom packed my clothes with hers in a suitcase and dragged me downstairs.

"Where are you going?" dad asked from the kitchen, "we're not done yet!"

"Oh yes I am!" mom said, "I'm done with you Ronny! It's over! Hope I never get to see your face again!"

Then we left the house I had been living in my whole life.

I asked my mom where we were going but she didn't answer, she just dragged me trough the city.

After a while we stopped on a hotel.

We stayed over night, and then we left again.

My mom was obviously trying to shake of any pursuers.

The third day after we left the house we were stopped by a crimson guard.

"Where are you going Maria Praxis?" he asked with a calm voice.

"That's none of your business!" mom answered with a not so calm voice, "Get out of my way!"

"Your husband is worried" the guard said, still sounding very calm.

Mom snorted, "Sure he is! Let him cry himself to death for all I care!" she said, "The same can that dork you call baron too. Why don't you just tell them both to stay way clear of me and my daughter! And it's Maria Greenstone for you ugly! Now get out of my way!"

I had never seen my mom that angry before, and I had definitely never heard her yell at a crimson guard before.

The guard seemed very surprised as well, he just stood there looking shocked and didn't try to stop us


	3. On the run

**Hi, thanks for reading my story.**

**And alsothanks for all the wonderfull reviews, all one of them. (wha? just one?)**

**If you notice some typos in the story, please ignore:) I try to do it right and the computers spelling control and my dictonary help alot but sometimes I can't find a good way to write a whole sentence.**

**Anyway, I give you chapter five and six of my first internettuploaded story, Growing up in Haven City, (and yeah, review please:))**

**CHAPTER 5**

**THE RESCUE**

Haven City: 208 years. Month four

Maria 

I was tired, hungry and completely exhausted, but I couldn't stop now!

What I really wanted was just to leave the city and move to a quiet place on the country.

Unfortunately, after the metal heads came there was no such thing as a quiet place on the country, hardly a quiet place in the city!

I would have been nice to be able to go to another city, anywhere where I wouldn't have to see Cedrik or Ronny ever again.

But we could not leave the city, the crimson guards would never let us, so all we could do was to find a place they wouldn't find us.

"Can we stop now? We've been walking the whole day" asked Kate.

"Fine, a small break" I said.

Kate sat down into a hole that had appeared when the baron stopped the maintenance of the poorest part of the city.

"This is not working" she said, sounding very tired, "why can't we just find a place to live around here?"

"There are crimson guards all over the section" I said, "We have to keep moving".

"There are crimson guards all over the city mom!" Kate complained, "We can't get away from them! Why not stop here? They probably wouldn't come looking in the slums anyway!"

Maybe she was right or maybe not. Maybe the guards would give up? They couldn't search forever could they?

But were could we go? We couldn't just move in just like that.

"This is not working, maybe we should go back" I said.

Kate got up, "we can't! I refuse to go back!" she said angry.

I tried to get up, tried to walk, but I quickly fell over, I was too tired.

"Mom! Are you ok?" Kate asked and sat down next to me.

"I can't go on Kate" I said to her, "you're a big girl now, save yourself"

"No! Not without you!" she was crying, I didn't look at her, I didn't want to.

"It's you they're after!" I said, "You're the only one who can reclaim the throne! When the baron is gone you have to rebuild the city".

"I don't want to" Kate cried, "I won't make it alone! I can get help! There must be someone around"

"Fine, just go find them" I said, "I'm staying; go find some nice elves who can look after you. Forget me"

"No way" said Kate, "I can't, and I won't. You can't stay here!"

"Just leave, Kate" I said, "I'll manage."

Kate stood still a couple of seconds, then I heard fast steps and I knew she had run away.

I just stayed there on the street with my suitcase beside me, it was covered with dirt, and same was all my clothes.

My hair, that used to be clear blond, had stripes of muddy water; my face was covered with tears and earth.

I sat like that for a while, in a blind alley in Haven City's slums, and I waited. Waited for what? I don't know, but I was not expecting what arrived.

Only half an hour after Kate had left I heard steps, I turned around to see who it was.

A man was standing before me.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Who are you?" I said confused.

A girl appeared behind the man, a girl I knew all to well.

"This is Jake Sentinel" said Kate, "He was a teacher at my school, he came to help you"

**CHAPTER 6**

**CRIMSON SCHOOL**

Haven City: still 208 years after founding, month four

Ashelin

"You're going to love it! It's the best school in the world!"

We were on the air train moving towards the notorious crimson school

Erol talked about it as if it was a new amusement park or something, he sat on my right side, on the left was my mom, and next to her again Erol and Cornelius mom, Karla.

Cornelius was sitting next to his brother, for the moment he was busy shooting the wall with his water gun. He didn't show any interest in the conversation.

We had been driving in fifteen minutes and he still hadn't said a word.

"What's so cool about it anyway?" I asked, "Are you allowed to shoot at teachers with water guns or something?"

"Ha ha, very funny" said Erol, "You can't shoot the teachers, that's one of the things that got mister gun-lover here thrown out (he pointed at Cornelius) But we can shoot at these really cool models of metal heads with real guns!"

I thought about mentioning Cornelius wasn't half as gun-loving as Erol but decided not to, he would just keep on talking anyway.

After what I had hears (both from Erol and others) this school did not sound like the coolest of anything, most of the kids had been forced to go by their parents or the crimson guards (following my fathers orders)

Of course some refused, many of them lived in the slums, parts of the city my father had ignored for years and as a result of that these sections had fallen apart.

Rumours said there was an underground movement hiding in that area, but they were few and were no threat to the crimson guards (unfortunately), Erol had said he was going to kill them all.

I couldn't help but worry about him sometimes.

Since he went to the crimson school he had changed from an annoying little kid and seemed more... murderous. I had often heard him talking about how he would save the city in the past, words like knocking out, defeat and exterminate (last one used in sentences involving metal heads), but I had never heard him use the word kill before, at least not about another elves.

After a short while, Cornelius got sick of shooting the wall and the water beam hit Erol in the middle of his face.

"Hey! Watch it kid! When I become crimson guard commander you're gonna wish you never messed with me!" Erol said angry.

"I'm so scared, what are you going to do? Send a bunch of morons to lock me up?" Cornelius asked, "Or are you going to expel me out to the wasteland?"

"That would be nice, just imagine how easy it would be knocking you into a hole of dark eco and make it seem like an accident" said Erol, "But that would be unnecessary of course, the metal heads would kill you in a matter of seconds"

"And what about the inhabitants of Spargus?"

Erol looked at his brother as if he had just suggested he would be saved by the Easter Bunny in Santa's sleight driven by flying yacows.

"Spargus is a rumour brother, it doesn't exist" he said, "no one! Not even those silly wastelanders can survive outside the walls in long terms and none the less live there!"

"You know Haven City was wasteland before the city was build too right?" said Cornelius, "it took ten years after the first metal head attack before the building of the city walls was even started, and I think it's obvious the elven kind did not go extinct during that time"

For once, Erol couldn't find an answer.

"Someone has done their homework" i said, Erol just snorted.

"You don't need homework to be a warrior" he said, sounding very annoyed,"Still, the elves in the past couldn't protect their villages. That sandy village only lased an our before all the inhabitants was even killed or had fled"

"The "sandy village" in question was Sandover genius, even you should know that" said Cornelius, "and a nearby village, Rock Village survived for years, I heard Mar grew up there. Besides, there were some elves that still stayed in the ruins of Sandover, and how about Seaside? It still exists today!"

"Shout up and watch where you are driving" said Erol grumpy, a stupid advice since Cornelius, like the rest of us, was a passenger and did not drive.

"He hates it when I'm better than him" Cornelius whispered, "Do you want to know how long it took to build Haven City?"

"Maybe later" I said, hoping he would forget it.

Finally we arrived at school.

It looked more like a fortress to me, a huge prison, complete with barbed wire on top of the stone walls that were as big as the city walls, and a huge gate guarded with at least five mean-looking guards.

Erol and I said goodbye to our mothers and Cornelius, (well, I did, Erol just run through the gate as if it would close any second), I would give anything to change place with Cornelius or Kate right now.

I had a strong feeling this would be the start of the worst period of my life.


	4. A new school and a new pet

**Ms.Ecofreak: no more reviews? Oh well, at least i get constant reviews from my annoying little brother (who finds Zelda better than Jak2, moron) **

**But anyways. reviews or not. Heres the next chapter where I finally get to intruduce a cutelittle bird named Tanya, but I'm not going to say all what the chapter is about, you read for yourself:**

**CHAPTER 7**

**TANYA THE SPARROWFLUT**

208, Mounth four. Same day

Cornelius

My mom must have noticed I was a bit grumpy on out way home

"Don't worry sweety" she said cheerfully, "you can become a crimson guard even without going to that school"

"Who ever said I wanted to become guard?" I asked angrily.

Mom didn't find an answer to that.

Sure, only the precursors know how long Erol has been nagging on that he wanted to become commander of the crimson guards, but that's Erol, although he is my brother it doesn't have to mean we both like the same things.

I hate Praxis! Of reasons I don't want to mention here.

He's not even my real uncle; he's just married to my dad's sister, (unfortunately)

I found only one down-part of being thrown out of school.

Almost every kid in Haven City had left so no the neighbourhood was as good as emptied for kids.

Only the poorest and youngest were left, many of these were actually looking forward to the day they too would be sent to crimson school.

Why? I don't know, some elves actually believe in all the talk of a better future, for now that "better future" seemed to involve a complete breakdown of the city's slums, half of the civil rights were taken away from the citizens, (or in the lurkers' case, all civil rights), and around every corner of the streets, you hear the barons ongoing propaganda.

Yes, big fun.

When we came home, the first thing my mom told me was to go out and play with my friends.

What friends? The four-year-olds? The neighbour's dog? What?

I stayed out anyway.

It was better than staying indoors and listen to my father complains, and my mother's attempts to calm him down and next quickly become grounded for no apparent reason at all.

Or even worse, read more propaganda in the newspapers.

I walked to the park, the only place in the city where there still was some beauty.

Even this green patch was overcrowded with crimson guards and I kept wondering, where did they all come from? Did the baron clone them or something?   
I ignored the guards as usual, and they ignored me in turn.

As I walked past a three I heard a weak twittering, something small was moving around in the grass.

I bent down to see; it was a small yellow and blue bird, a sparrowflut.

It almost looked like a miniature flut-flut, no wonder really, that's where it got its name from.

I didn't know much about these birds but since it was on the ground, I guessed it hadn't learnt to fly yet.

I looked around; I couldn't see any other sparrowfluts nearby, had the parents just left their baby?

I had heard of some cases were the chick had jumped out of the nest before it learned to fly, the parents still fed it though it was on another branch or on the ground like this one.

The bird twittered again and looked at me as if I was its mother, or perhaps father.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

The bird kept twittering. This was getting really annoying.

_Perhaps I should help the poor guy then,_ I thought, and picked up the bird.

I put it in the three so it wouldn't be attacked by a dog or a cat before its parents returned.

Then I headed back home.

I had only walked a few steps when I heard a small bump.

The bird had jumped out of the three and was walking towards me with unsteady steps.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not like I was expecting an answer, "go back! Your parents get worried!".

The bird just looked at me,"tweet?" it said and stared at me with its large brown eyes.

"Go home" I said and kicked the bird so it fell over.

The bird flapped its wings trying to get back up on its feet but it was no use.

_At leas now it won't follow me, its parents will help it when they return_ I thought and walked away.

"That's not very nice of you was it?" said a voice as soon as I had turned around again.

A middle-aged man picked up the baby-bird and comforted it till it stopped crying.

"Poor girl is the big boy being bad to you" he said, while rocking the bird in his hands.

"Hey! It followed me" I said in my defence, "how are the parents supposed to find it if it leaves the park?"   
"I'm afraid this little girl's parents won't return" said the man.

I just looked confused at the man, and that's one of the few times I ever got confused.

"Sparrowfluts usually fly south at this time of year" the man explained, "I've been keeping an eye on this chick since yesterday. I guess she didn't learn to fly fast enough so they just abandoned her".

"How do you know it's a girl?" I asked out of pure curiosity, "it's not like with ducks where the female is brown and the male is in all sorts of colours".

I did have some knowledge of birds, especially flut-fluts since my uncle ran a flut-flut-ranch, but I didn't know much about sparrowfluts.

"It's simply the size young man" said the man, "with sparrowfluts, like their older cousins the flut-fluts the female is bigger than the male. This one is bigger than even a fully grown male of the species; therefore, it has to be a female".

He took out a bag of bird-seeds which he offered to the chick, she ate it like as if she hadn't eaten for days.

"I better take this little girl home" he said, "Until she learns to fly she can't catch food on her own"

He turned to leave.

"Hey wait!" I shouted after him.

The man turned around and looked questioning at me.

"I can take her" I said, _man! Why did I say that? Oh right. _"I...I don't have any other you see, all my friends have left"

"To crimson school?" he asked.

I just nodded.

"Why aren't you there? Won't your parents let you?"

"No, they really want me to go, I got thrown out"

"I see" said the man, "well I'm not very surprised your alone, one by one of the kids around here are sent of to that damn school", he offered me the bird and the bag of seeds, "It's not hard knowing when she's hungry" he told me, "just feed her when she cries, after a while she might even learn to talk".

"They can talk to?" I asked surprised.

"Sure, if you train them" the man said, "if you got any question don't hesitate to call, here's my number", he gave me a piece of paper; "by the way, I haven't even said my name yet! I'm Samos Green, and you are?"

"My name is Cornelius Elfin" I said, "and this bird, I think I'll call her Tanya"

"That's a nice name" said Samos, "take care of her Cornelius; I hope we meet again sometime"

And with that he left.

I felt much happier on my way home than I felt when I left.

Finally I had someone I could talk to without being yelled at.

"We've got something in common you and me" I said to the sleepy bird, "All my friends are gone to".

Tanya yawned and fell asleep in my hands.

After being yelled at for five minutes by my dad I took her up to my room (surprisingly enough she was still sleeping).

There was one good thing about the crimson school, with Erol gone I had the whole room for myself; I doubt he would have wanted to share his room with a bird.

I took out some pillows and made a small nest for Tanya right by my bed.

Next I got out to plates, filled one with water and the other one with bird-seeds so that she could eat it when she woke up, then I carefully placed her down at the pillows.

I had to admit it, she was cute.

Only seconds after the door opened, it was my dad.

"Dinner in ten minutes"he said, "And I don't want that thing in the kitchen"

"No problem, you've already said that" I said and copied his voice, "no matter what you do keep that dirty bird in your own room! If I see it somewhere else it will become dinner!"

"Don't play games with me kid!" dad said angry, "your mom and I have worked hard to get money for your school books and you thank us by being thrown out! Erol never makes any problems at school" _Not counting elementary_ I thought for myself.

"Erol **likes** school!" I almost shouted, "I can't remember having said I wanted anything to do with that... that jerk!"

Dad wasn't angry anymore, he was furious.

"That _jerk _is your uncle! And the ruler of Haven City!" he said, "and if you don't teach yourself some respect soon you're going straight out! Forget dinner! You're grounded!"

He slammed the door shout and locked it.

_Straight out? Well first I have to get out._

He had installed the lock only days after I got expelled, I got grounded all the time but always managed to sneak away.

Dad had the only key, the few first days mom always felt sorry for me and opened the door so no he refused to let her have it.

Fine with me, I didn't want to sit around in the kitchen with that guy anyway.

Tanya twittered, the noise had finally woken her up and now she was hiding under the bed.

"Relax little one, he does that every day" I said and picket her up, she calmed down a bit when I held her.

"All since Uncle Superman took over, my brother Erol suddenly went from being a trouble-maker to dad's favourite boy, my grades doesn't seem to count for anything anymore" I told her, "not that they improved at crimson school, all they want is to make you as violent as possible. I give one teacher half of what he deserves and there! I'm stuck in here, as if Erol never made any problems at his old school"

I didn't really know if Tanya knew what I was talking about; still, it was good to have someone to talk to.

Dad never wanted to listen; mom would just start crying, and my friends? Gone, every single one of them.

I had never told anyone the reason why I hated Praxis that much, why should I? They would never believe me anyway. Dad would ground me for life and my mom? Only the precursors know what she would do.

"Can you keep a secret?" I asked the bird, "but you must promise never to tell a living soul"

**Ms.Ecofreak: what is Cornelius' big secret? Find out later in the story, for now you can read about the insede of the "beloved" Crimson school**

**CHAPTER 8**

**THE WORST SCHOOL EVER**

208, Mounth five

Ashelin

"Hey you! Aim properly!"

When I first got to this school I thought it looked like a prison, I was wrong; it was more of a death camp.

After missing the target for the third time the teacher walked up to me.

"Listen lady! I don't care if you are the barons daughter. Here we don't tolerate mistakes like that!" he said angry.

"It's not that easy!" I yelled, "I have never done anything like this before!"

"Tell the metal heads when they come" the teacher said, "perhaps they will lay down and die just because you are a rookie"

And with that he walked away to torture someone else.

Tetra, who was standing next to me, rolled her eyes, "I envy Cornelius" she said, "sometimes I am tempted to aim this at every teacher at this schools heads, all the other employees as well"

"So why don't you do that?" I asked.

"Cause I can't hit a damn thing" she said, missing for like thirteenth time or something.

None of the teachers ever stopped to yell at her.

The thing about not caring whether I was the baron's daughter or not was a lie, it only made them expect more of me.

Tetra didn't do well in any of the subjects at school; personally I think she gets it all wrong on purpose.

Once she was even closed in a small hut for failing a test she passed with glory at home.

After the shooting practice we had to listen to some high-ranked crimson guard talking about how great my father was, not half of it was true of course.

In the past I didn't understand why he sent small children of to military school, no I knew. It was to feed them with propaganda from a young age so that they would become faithful helpers as adults.

The scary thing was that it seemed to work.

Many of the students talked about my dad as if he was the biggest pop-star or something.

Erol kept talking about himself, and Tetra was the complete opposite from the kids who liked my father.

"Sure he made the city a better place" she said as we walked out of the classroom, "you know what they used to call Haven City before? Heaven City. No, if you take a trip to the slums you'll want to call it Hell City"

"Have you ever been to the slums?" I asked in surprise, Tetras parents would never have allowed her that would they?

"Sure, lots of times" she said, "Mom and dad didn't know it of course; I took a cab down there".

"Why?" I asked, "What do the slums have that we don't have?"

"Cute boys?" suggested Tetra, "someone who's not completely brainwashed, or someone like that kid"

I turned around to see who she was looking at, just in time to se a boy with long brown hair quickly turn around and look up in the sky.

"That boy's been watching you since we left the intern this morning" Tetra whispered, "and all the days before to, I think he likes you"

"Right he's probably just one of the baron's fans who can't believe he's in the same class as Praxis' daughter" I said quickly.

"So he's not a little cute?" Tetra asked.

"Hey, if you like him why don't you talk to him?" I asked her.

"Cause he is staring at you silly" said Tetra, "come on, let's go talk to him"

Before I could protest, she dragged me along towards where the brown-haired boy was standing.

"Hi" said Tetra, the boy jumped up, as if he hadn't seen us coming.

"Uh, hi" he said and continued staring in the sky, "interesting class wasn't it?"

"Not really" said Tetra, sounding rather bored.

"No, not much" the boy said and looked at a duck that flew over the wall, "a bit boring maybe"

Tetra stepped on my foot; she wanted me to say something.

"So err... have you been here for a long time?" I asked.

"A while" said the boy, for once he was looking at me, but the annoying thing was he didn't move an inch, "my parents sent me here a couple of months ago"

"My name is Tetra" said Tetra, reaching out her hand, "And this is my friend Ashelin, but you probably know here already right?"

The boy didn't take her hand, (I doubt he even saw it) he just kept staring at me.

"My name is Torn" he said, "but I... err... I got to go"

He ran towards the door at the intern, straight into the door, he looked in our direction again as he got up and closed the door, slowly.

"Now? Still think he just sees you as the baron's daughter?" Tetra asked.


	5. The flutflutranch

**Finally! I've reached the chapter where I can write about the Jak-worlds cutest animals! The flut-fluts!  
All the facts about flut-fluts mentioned in this chapter is all made up by me, the only thing I really know about them is how they look, how they sound and that they can be used as horses even shortly after their birth.**

**So well... thats about what I had to say for now. I give you, chapters nine and ten of Growing up in Haven City**

**CHAPTER 9**

**FLUT-FLUTS OF ALL SIZES**

208, month six

Cornelius

When I came into my room this morning Tanya wasn't sitting on her normal spot.

"Tanya?" I asked, "Where are you?"

"Up here stupid" a voice from above me said.

I looked up; Tanya was sitting on the lamp under the ceiling.

"How did you get up there?" I asked in surprise.

"Guess" said Tanya and glided down and landed on my head.

"Hey, you're flying!" I said.

"I am? Gee, I hadn't noticed" Tanya said while laughing, "it wasn't so hard, I just watched the other birds from the window. Now I won't have to hide under the bed anymore"

"It might be useful today" I said laughing, "We are going to visit my uncle at the flut-flut-ranch. Uncle Charlie says he's got at present waiting for me"

"So not all of your family has forgotten your birthday then" said Tanya.

"I doubt they've forgot it" I said, "My dad just won't care"

"Cornelius! Are you coming or what?" my brother appeared in the door.

Since it was summer vacation, he was home for a while. Actually I liked it this way; it meant my dad would be to busy praising Erol to yell at me.

"I'm coming!" I said to him.

"You better hurry, or we'll leave without you" said Erol (he sounded just like my father) "and leave that stupid sparrow at home, it will just get stomped on or eaten by a flut-flut"

I was just about to tell him most domestic flut-fluts are vegetarians but he slammed the door shout before I could even open my mouth.

"He drives me insane sometimes" I said.

"Sometimes? I can't understand how you survive!" said Tanya and flew down and landed in my hand.

"Well. You don't have to stay" I said, "now that you can fly you can survive on your own right?"

"I guess" she said, looking at the window, "but are you going to be okay?"

"Listen, you should go find your family, your real family" I said, "Its not good for you to stay around these guys"  
She hesitated for a moment, but then she flew out of the window and landed in three.

"I'll miss you" she said.

"I'll miss you too" I said back as she flew away, "you're lucky you can leave"

I didn't close the window, I just let it stay vide open and ran down the stairs so fast I almost tripped.

Dad had already started the engine on the zoomer when I came out.

"We almost left you. Come on!" he shouted high enough to drown the sound of the zoomer.

I jumped into the back seat next to mom; Erol was in the front seat. Dad said it was because of his good grades.

I had never been sitting in the front seat, although my grades in theoretic subjects were way higher than Erol's.

We drove the zoomer down to the harbour in South Town where the air train waited.

The flutranch was located far outside the city; you can't drive a normal zoomer out there because of all the metalheads.

The air train however had tick walls and it needed a lot of metalheads to break it.

After flying in the train for half an hour I could finally see the ranch under me.

The one place I felt free.

Large birds, mostly blue and yellow though a few was green or purple instead of blue, was running over the large grass fields.

Flut-fluts, real flut-fluts, a lot different from sparrowfluts like Tanya.

The air train landed between the stable and Uncle Charlie's house where my uncle was waiting, at his side stood a small bright blue flut-flut, hardly over a meter tall.

"Hey guys, nice to see you" uncle said as we walked out of the train.

"Hi Uncle Charlie! Hello Tiny Blue" I said cheerfully.

Tiny Blue made a happy squeaking sound and ran towards me.

"My brother attracts losers like an ecowell attracts metalheads" Erol said laughing.

"Don't laugh at Tiny Blue Erol, he can't help that he's a little small" uncle said, "but enough talking, Cornelius, I've got a little something for you"

He led me into the stable, Erol and Tiny Blue followed us, curious about what he had in there (Tiny Blue probably knew already, but he tagged along anyway)

We walked past the boxes where the adult birds stood when they where not outside and in to the room for sick or injured birds.

He opened a box bigger than most of the others, it was bigger because it usually contained a mother and her chick, and this time was no exception.

I knew the female bird in there; it was Katja, Tiny Blue's mother.

The baby bird next to her was just a bit bigger than Tiny Blue himself; perhaps a few weeks old, he had the usual blue/yellow-colour combination.

The main colour was blue, yet a lot of his body was yellow as well, his stomach, the back and top of his head was yellow, and of course he had the usual yellow streak down his spine.

The blue field on his tail which separated the yellow streak from the small green and blue tail-feathers was spotted, one spot above each tail-feather. (Ms.EF: does this make sense to you? I'm not very good at descriptions)

"Wow! Is that a flut-flut-chick?" I asked.

"That's right, Tiny Blues little brother" said Charlie, "and he's all yours"

"Little brother? He's bigger than Tiny Blue!" said Erol, "are you sure they both have the same father?"

Tiny Blues father was the leader Charlie's flut-flut-herd, an old male named Rocko.  
He was getting really old by now, Uncle Charlie said his old age could be the reason Tiny Blue turned out as he did, Tiny's oldest little sister and youngest older brother were stillborn.

"I though you didn't want to mate Rocko anymore?" I said to Uncle Charlie.

"I didn't mean for it to happen" Uncle Charlie admitted, he tried to hide the disappointment in his voice, "I tried to mate Katja with a younger male but Rocko simply wouldn't accept it"

He looked towards the next box.

A striped bird named Jimbo was laying in it, his leg and neck bandaged.

"But enough about my failed breeding-experiments aren't you going to name your new bird?" Charlie asked me.

"I think I will call him Spot" I said, "because of the spots"

"A dorky-looking bird with a dorky-looking name" said Erol.

"You're just jealous because you don't have a flut-flut" I said.

"As if I ever wanted one of those silly pets! I want to catch my own bird! Straight from the wilderness!" Erol said.

"Good luck" I said while laughing, as if that dork would be ever to catch, let alone tame, a wild flut-flut.

Even the first tame flut-fluts had been hatched along elves.

Sometimes their parents would go missing but quite often an elf could actually steal an egg from a nearby nest.

These birds knew nothing of the life in the wild and would not possibly survive without elven help.

Wild flut-fluts however would instinctively attack an elf coming to close, if the bird grew up with elves this instinct would be forgotten but even taming a chick from the wild was extremely difficult.

Nobody had ever managed to take a bird from the wild and tame it to become just as nice as a domestic flut-flut.

But then again, Erol is, and have always been, a jerk, he thinks he can do anything.

**CHAPTER 10**

**THE BIRD FROM THE FIRE**

208. That night

Erol

We slept at the ranch that night.

I guess it's true what Cornelius said about me wanting a flut-flut, but the tame birds just weren't my style.

They were too kind, too cosy, I wanted a tough flut-flut, and the only place you can find tough birds is in the wild, where they have to fight for survival, don't get their dinner served on a plate.

Of course my parents would never let me go out to find one, so I sneaked out unnoticed in the middle of the night… almost unnoticed.

"Where do you think you are going?"

Man I hade little brothers.

"None of your business!" I said.

"You're not going out to the forest are you? What about the scary metalheads?" Cornelius said, totally ignoring my threats as usual.

"Actually, yes" I said, "I'm gonna find a real flut-flut, not a stupid pet like yours, or a tiny bug like the sparrow you found in the trash".

"I did not find Tanya in the trash!" Cornelius complained before I slammed the front door in his face.

I walked towards the stable, to catch a flut-flut; I needed a flut-flut, they might be cowards but they are fast cowards.

I got the one of Charlie's fastest birds saddled up, a really annoying bird named Fluffy, (named by Charlie's daughters).

As soon as I was ready I heard steps from the recovery room, Cornelius came out of the door, followed by a fully saddled Spot.

"Where are you going?" I asked, even though I knew what he would answer.

"I'm coming with you" he answered "and don't try to stop me or I'll tell mom."

She would of course find out sooner or later anyway, but then again, if Cornelius came with me I could say I followed him to get him back.

"Fine you can come" I said, "but don't blame me if your chicken flies away".

"Flut-fluts don't fly" Cornelius corrected, "besides, one of the first domestic flut-fluts, Chici, was ridden only days after her birth, and that was in the middle of the Bogey Swamp!"

"Why do you think I care?" I asked and climbed up on Fluffy's back.

Surprisingly enough Spot managed to keep up even though I made Fluffy run at top speed into the forest.  
"How are you going to find the flut-fluts anyway?" Cornelius asked, "They won't just come right towards you, besides they could see you as a threat and attack"

"If you're scared you can go back home" I said, "there's no need to be afraid, I brought my pistol just in case"

"Me too" said Cornelius.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised Cornelius had kept his old school-gun; all students at the crimson school get one the first week.

But then again, it wasn't that much of a surprise when I gave it a thought.

Although Cornelius was almost voluntarily expelled from school he was no pacifist, his efforts of being thrown out involved hitting the teachers with water guns and once he even killed one of the guard dogs at school.

It was midsummer so the forest never became completely dark, even so I had to bring out my flashlight as we entered the woods.

Hours passed before we even saw signs after the birds.

Sometimes I wondered if they had all been taken by metalheads or lurkers but then…

"Something smells burnt" Cornelius said, "You don't suppose it could be a forest fire or what?"

Before I could answer Fluffy started screaming.

Cornelius was right; I could se smoke over the treetops.

"It's a forest fire alright" I said while trying to keep Fluffy calm, "And you know what that means?"

"Some predators run towards the fire" said Cornelius, "They try to catch small animals that try to escape from the heat"

"Precisely! So let's do as the predators and try to catch flut-fluts that are running from the fire!" I said exited.

I had to force Fluffy to go towards the fire, but it wasn't easy, he was completely petrified.

Spot on the other hand was too young to understand the meaning of the word dangerous so he ran straight towards the smoke.

As we ran towards the fire we could se lots of small animals running away from the fire, rats, rabbits, ottsels and even small metalheads, but no flut-fluts.

Soon we could se the fire in front of us.

Orange glowing fire making a perpendicular wall through the forest.

Wait a minute! A straight line?

"This can't be a natural fire", Cornelius said out loud what we both were thinking, "Someone must have started it, but who and why?"

I looked over the fire, and noticed large black flying creatures diving down at the other side, all with a shining greenish yellow gem at their heads.

"Metalheads!" I said, "real meatalheads! This is completely different from seeing them at pictures in school"

"That's wonderful Erol, but weren't we hunting for flut-fluts" said Cornelius; he drove Spot, who started to become nervous, under a three for cover.

Perhaps I should have done the same thing, Fluffy obviously wanted me to, but I was too amazed by the sight above my head.

The metalheads looked like large birds covered in a metal-armour flying down and hunting whatever was on the other side of the fire wall.

I thought about how jealous the kids at school would become when I told them I'd seen real metalheads.

"Ehm, Erol? I think you'd better hide" Cornelius whispered, he sounded quite nervous.

"Relax, I'll be fine" I said, giving Fluffy a small kick, he was starting to move backwards.

I could hear screaming from the other side, it sounded like…

"Flut-fluts! The herd is on the other side!"

Suddenly I saw one of the metalheads moving, it had heard me!

The metalhead dived down towards me.

If Fluffy wasn't halfway scared to death before he certainly was now, he raised himself up to look bigger and trying to scare the metalhead away but he only accomplished one thing, I fell off.

The metalhead went for Fluffy, the bird tried to peck it and kick it away but it must have felt only as prickling at the metalhead's armour.

I had only one option, the gun! But if I tried to shoot I could hit Fluffy, Uncle Charlie would kill me! But what was I supposed to do? Wait until the metalhead had finished of with Fluffy and attack me? Or perhaps Spot and Cornelius?

I couldn't just tell my uncle I was trying to hit the metalhead either, he would only ask me what I was doing out in the forest in the middle of the night.

Suddenly Cornelius leaped out from under the three, he quickly took his gun out of his pocket and rolled in between Fluffy and the metalhead and shot the metalhead in its stomach. He couldn't miss; there were only a few inches between the gun and the metalhead's soft skin.

The metalhead died at once, it rolled backwards into the fire, leaving only the skull gem on the ground.

I was in shock; I couldn't believe what I just saw! My stupid little brother had just risked his life to save Fluffy and me.

Fluffy lay on his back behind Cornelius breathing hard, his stomach had a large rift but it didn't seem life-threatening.

Cornelius took out a bandage-roll from his pocket and used the saddle to fasten it around the wound.

"Well aren't you a great hunter what?" he said teasing.

"Shout up!" I snarled, and got up.

"Come on. I just saved your life!" said Cornelius,"is that how you show gratitude?"

I just stared at him for a while, "thanks" I muttered, "I owe you one".

"You could thank me by not sentence me to death in a later opportunity" said Cornelius and laughed, "Now at least we know where the flut-fluts are, do you want to go around the fire wall and pick up one?"

He looked at me and smirked, "or perhaps the great crimson king is scared of a bunch of metalheads?"

"I'm not stupid! Going after those metalheads is suicide!" I said.

"So standing under them shouting is not?" Cornelius asked, still with that very annoying smirk on his face.

I didn't answer; there was no reason to start an argument with Cornelius. He always managed to get the last word anyway.

I was angry, angry at myself for making such a huge mistake, angry at Cornelius because he… was smarter, but most of all, I was angry because I wouldn't be able to come home with a wild flut-flut. That also meant I had no excuse for going out in the first place, and with Fluffy injured there was no way I could hide it.

I could still hear the flut-flut-screams from the other side, only a few of them sounded scared.

The other sound was a sound you hardly get to hear from domestic flut-fluts, they sounded threatening, the birds behind the fire walls were fighting the metalheads, not running from them.

I walked straight towards the flames, there was no vegetation on the ground so it spread slowly, and I was so angry because there was no way I could cross it.

The wild flut-fluts were so close but yet so…

"Hey!"

Something flew straight trough the fire and knocked me over for the second time in just a few minutes, all I saw was a flash of blue and yellow.

"Wait! Stop!" I shouted, pointless of course.

Cornelius, who was still checking out Fluffy's injuries got out his gun again and shoot a bullet into the ground right in front of the scared animal.

It stopped and turned its face towards us.

A wild flut-flut, covered in blue feathers on its back with a thick yellow stripe and a white stomach.

It was young, hardly older than Spot really, but still it was so different.

Fluffy seemed scared of the new bird, if he weren't still on his back I would have sworn he'd run away, from a chick!  
"It's a male" Cornelius said, "Probably Spot's age. Maybe older"

"He's amazing" I said, "And he's all mine"

Cornelius looked sceptical, "yours? And how are you going to take him back? Pick it up and put him in your pocket?"

I ignored him; instead I walked up to Fluffy and took out a rope which hanged on his saddle.

I walked up to the wild chick which still looked scared at me until…

"Shiir!" I jumped backwards and fell to the ground again.

Incredible! It was scared to death but still it tried to defend himself. If I had scared Fluffy like that he would have ran away quicker than an ottsel ate a fish.

"Krik!" Spot came out of his hiding space.

He hadn't learned that even other flut-fluts could be dangerous and saw this bird as a potential playmate.

The wild flut-flut seemed a bit surprised over Spots behaviour but didn't attack.

It had probably never been attacked by another flut-flut before (especially not a chick) and didn't see Spot as a threat, yet he was a stranger. I think wild flut-fluts are instinctively scared of strangers.

Domestic birds like Spot however are petted so much that young birds, who have never seen adults fight think any other bird is a friend.

This bird had probably seen some strangers attack its pack and seemed a bit sceptical about Spot. Spot pecked the wild bird at his beak, a sign of friendship amongst flut-fluts.

This was a language even the wild flut understood; he happily pecked Spot back, all earlier scepticism was forgotten.

This was the chance I had been waiting for; while the wild bird was busy I quickly threw the rope over his head.

He screeched and tried to peck me but this time I was prepared.

I shoot a bullet in the ground in front of him like Cornelius did earlier.

That was enough for Spot who ran back to Cornelius.

The wild bird had no owner of mom to run to, he bend down in front of me and squeaked weakly.

"Hah! I got you now!" I said triumphant.

The flut-flut tried to back of but was stopped by the rope.

"Hey, relax. I won't hurt you" I said with a calm voice, I tried to pet the bird but it just backed of as far as the rope let him.

"He should have a name" said Cornelius. "We can't just call him "it" all the time"

"I know that you moron! Stop telling me what to do" I said angry, "I will call him…"

"Chicken?" suggested Cornelius.

"No you dork! I shall call him Phoenix, the bird who came from the fire"

**So, how was it? stupid? boring? Just tell me please! **


	6. The runaway

**CHAPTER 11**

**FREE LIKE THE BIRD**

208, Month 6. The next day

Cornelius

Mom and dad weren't exactly happy when they found out what Erol and I had been doing that night and somehow my dad found a way to blame it on me.

But when they saw Phoenix they suddenly became very impressed, of Erol of course.

I became temporarily invincible at that point.

Erol told them everything that happened that night, all except the part where I saved him from the metalhead and that if I hadn't been there Phoenix would have just run away.

He mentioned however that I was the one who hid under the tree when the metalheads arrived. I pointed out that standing just below them shouting wasn't the greatest idea either.

Finally I got him to admit who saved his life at the end.

"Are you serious son? Cornelius killed a metalhead all by himself?" said Dad, sounding shocked.

Erol was still grumpy but he told the truth, "yes" he muttered.

Dad looked at me, and for the first time since I was expelled he didn't look angry. Not that he seemed happy either but at least he didn't yell at me, that's a start.

"Good work kid" he said, (I tried to ignore the fact that he had called Erol son while I was just "kid") "but you know your brother could have made it all by himself right?"

What was I supposed to say? The truth? That Erol had been to scared to shoot? That might help. It all ended with me being sent to my room as soon as we got home.

The first thing dad did when we came home was to drag me upstairs by my ear and close the bedroom-door, for lying he said.

Erol had moved out, now at days he lived in a bigger room downstairs.

Works for me, then I wouldn't have to share the room with him.

"Now? How was the visit?" a voice asked.

I looked up at the lamp in the ceiling; Tanya sat on the same spot where I found her yesterday.

"Tanya? I thought you had gone to find your family?" I said surprised.

"I was, but on the way I started thinking" said Tanya, "My parens have each other right? And all my siblings may have found someone in their lives too. But what about you? When I leave you'll be all alone"

"Well, I was alone before I found you" I said, "And I survived"

"But where you happy Cornelius?" asked Tanya.

I couldn't lie; actually I hadn't been happier as when I found Tanya since before Praxis took over… eight years ago? Was it really that long?

It still felt like yesterday when we were all gathered at Jacob's house for the dinner party. I still had nightmares about that night. A four-year-old kid, lost in the basement surrounded by fire…

I looked up again; Tanya was still waiting for an answer.

"You're right Tanya" I admitted in the end, "I don't want you to leave"

"I don't want to leave either" said Tanya, she flew down and landed on my shoulder, "I'm staying! It's better than being caught out in the rain anyway"

I laughed, "You are one of a kind Tanya" I said.

208. month 8

The days went by, and a couple of months later the time came for Erol to go back to school. I was left at home as always, with the door closed and the window nailed. Dad didn't take any chances. And for good reason. I was sick of this house! I was sick of my dad yelling, sick of being bossed around by Erol (even though that only happened in school-vacations), and I was sick and tired of being locked up in this room every day.

"Are you sure about this?" Tanya asked, she had taken refuge under the bed.

"If you've got a better idea say it now" I said and pulled out a box containing my old school-things from the crimson school.

School-things they called it, it didn't look like school-things to me.

The box contained a couple of books, a first-aid-kit, and a small box which used to contain the gun in my pocket.

"Are you ready girl?" I asked Tanya. She answered by crawling under the bed.

I looked out of the window to make sure my parents had left.

Then I took the biggest book out of the box, backed of a few steps and threw it.

Pieces of glass flew out with the book. I pushed out the last pieces of what used to be my window so I wouldn't cut myself. Of course my room was on the second floor so it was a long way down but I wouldn't let that stop me.

Tanya flew out of the window and landed in the three outside.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" she said again, "it's a long way, you could hurt yourself"

"I don't care" I sad and jumped straight out of the window.

I was free! No one could stop me now!

I got up, my feet hurt after hitting the ground but I could still walk.

"Are you coming or what?" I asked Tanya.

The sparrow flew down and landed on my shoulder.

"Do I have a choice?" she asked.

"You always have a choice" I said, "You can stay here and get yelled at"

Then I ran, right into the streets, away from the neighbourhood I had been living in since I was two, away from all my long-lost friends' houses, away from everything that was familiar.

I didn't know where I was going, I didn't even care.

All I knew was that I would no longer have to listen to my father's complaining.

**CHAPTER 12**

**THE REBELLION**

208. month 8

Cornelius

After a lot of running, walking, crawling and sneaking in the streets I finally made it to the slums without being noticed.

I almost felt safer there, who would look for me in this dump? Besides, I had heard most of the slums residents hate the baron as much as I do.

"Gee, this place looks cosy" said Tanya, "Where do we go from here? Shall we find a nice hotel?"

She was clearly unhappy about the situation. A wild sparrowflut would dislike to be shut in a room all day; Tanya however preferred to stay inside.

"Don't worry Tanny, we'll find some place to stay" I said.

"And where are we going to find that, in a cardboard box? You'd better remember this! I refuse to sleep in a box!"

I rolled my eyes; a bird who would usually love to be left alone on a large grass field didn't want to stay one night in a box? Perhaps Erol was right, domestic animals are cowardly.

"Are you lost kid?"

I turned over so abrupt Tanya almost fell of my shoulder. A male-elf came out of a dead end, he had a gun in his belt and half of his face was hidden behind a red mask.

"No" I said quickly, "We're fine thank you". I shut Tanya's beak in case she would say anything stupid.

"A young boy like you shouldn't be wandering these streets alone, especially not these streets. Not even accompanied by a bird" the man said, "Where are your parents?"

"Eh, out shopping" I said, fastening my grip on Tanya's beak.

The man came closer, "What's your name kid?" he asked.

"None of your business", I noticed I was shivering and let go of Tanya's beak, she started panting like she had just run a marathon.

"Hey, I don't want to hurt you" said the man,"I just want to help"

"I don't need help" I answered, "I can make it on my own! No one is going to order me around"

"Is that what this is all about?" said the man,"You ran away from home because your parents were too bossy is that right?"

"I don't like this guy, he reads minds" Tanya whispered in my ear.

"What I'm doing out here is none of your business! So just leave me alone!" I said to the man and was about to leave when I heard a familiar voice.

"Well that's some surprise! I didn't expect to see you here"

I turned around again, this time Tanya did fall of.

It was the man I met in the park the day I found Tanya.

"You!" Tanya said as she landed on the ground, "I know you right?"

"If it isn't Cornelius Elfin and his little bird-friend Tanya" Samos said smiling, "what are you two doing in a dump like this?"

"I was about to ask the same question" I said.

"Shadow? Do you know these two?" the first man asked.

"We've met" said Samos, "how are things Cornelius? I heard your brother got himself a new pet this summer"

"How did you know?" I asked.

Samos opened a newspaper he held in his hand, it showed a picture of Erol, proudly holding Phoenix on a leach. He tried to look casual but I could se the flut-flut had its feet and wings tied to the fence so that he wouldn't break loose.

"It's not every day a fourteen-year-old captures a wild flut-flut. Not even if it is a chick. Actually I don't think anyone ever managed to tame a wild flut-flut before" Samos said.

"Whoopee" I said low.

"Is that Phoenix?" asked Tanya who had just flown back on my shoulder, "He looks dangerous.

"A total maniac" I said, "wild birds shouldn't be captured like that. But he was an orphan so he probably wouldn't have survived anyway"

"You don't seem too happy" said Samos, "Of course. I guess no brothers can ever be friends, can they?"

"Not me and Erol, that's for sure" I muttered.

"Erol Elfin? You mean the baron's nephew?" asked the man still standing behind me.

"Not really, just his wife's nephew" I said.

The man laughed, "You don't seem to like the baron very much, do you?" he said.

"No, do you got a problem with that?" I asked.

"Of course not. I'm not his biggest fan myself" said the man,"My name is Jon; I'm in the underground movement working against the baron".

"A rebellion? Awesome!" I said exited.

"Didn't the baron say it was only a rumour?" asked Tanya.

"That's probably his biggest dream" Samos said and giggled, "But you two shouldn't walk around in these streets alone. Do your parents know where you are?"

"Of course not! And I'm not planning to let them know either" I said.

"I should have known. But you still need someplace to stay, you can sleep at my house, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch" said Samos.

Tanya looked at me and smiled; "fine" I said to Samos, "I don't have anything better to do".


	7. New hope

**I feel so happy! I've got a review! thanks Air of mystery.  
As for the constant change in POV, it was neccasary because I wrote this story to show what different people thought of Baron Praxis and that would be quite hard if we anly could reed it from Kate's POV.  
But on with the story, this chapter is very important for the entire story, not to mention if nothing in this chapter ever happened, there would be no such thing as Jak and Daxter, Jak2 or Jak3, and we can'trisk that can we?**

**CHAPTER 13**

**SPECIAL BOY**

212. Month 10

Maria

At first, Kate and I only planned to stay at Jake's house until we found somewhere else to stay.

Now, four years later I didn't want to go anywhere else.

"Come on, just a little bit more"

It felt funny when I thought about it, only four years ago I was sitting in the street waiting to die; now it felt like I was dying again.

"Almost there!"

The pain was almost unbearable, but I had gone trough it before and I couldn't give up.

"One more push, honey!"

I pushed hard, and finally I heard the sound that made it all worth the pain. A baby crying.

"It's a boy" the doctor said, wrapping the infant in a blue blanket and placed him in my arms.

Kate, who hadn't breathed since the contractions started, gave a sigh of relief.

"A little brother? That's great!" she said.

The boy stopped crying when I held him. He had short green hair and blue eyes, his ears where long and about an inch away from the tip the ears looked curled.

"He's just as cute as you" said Jake who was still holding my hand, "What are we going to name him?"

"How about we name him Jacob? After uncle" suggested Kate.

"That's a nice name, but what if we shorten it a bit?" I said, "We can call him Jak, that way he would be named after both his uncle and his father".

At that point the door opened and a nurse came in.

She and the doctor were old friends of Jake so we knew we could trust them.

"Excuse me, Maria? Theirs is a man here who wants to see you" she said, she sounded nervous.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, he was wearing a hood so I couldn't…" the nurse started before she was pushed out of the doorway.

"Let me say it this way" said the man who entered the room, "I _demand _to see Maria!"

He took his hood of and revealed his real face.

"Ronny! What are you doing here?" I shouted.

"Looking for you of course" he looked at the boy in my arms,"Looks like I came too late".

I held Jak closer to me, "I'm not your wife any more, leave me alone!" I said.

"Or what? You'll call on the guards?" Ronny asked and laughed, "In case you haven't noticed they're on my side. You are the criminal here, for denying your daughter a good education"

Kate stood up and moved in front of my bed, blocking the way for Ronny.

"Don't even think about it" she said, sounding just as angry as Ronny, "I don't know what kind of future you and your crazy brother is planning to build but remember this: I will not be a part of it!

Ronny wasn't smiling anymore; he went from oblivious to furious in less than three seconds, "Get out of my way stupid girl! You never had the qualities needed to control this city anyway!" he shouted, "You should be happy that your uncle took the responsibility for it. At least he thinks about this city's safety! Instead of slowly changing it into a large amusement park like Jacob did! We don't need new malls! We need warriors!"

Ronny pushed Kate out of the way so she hit the wall and came closer to me again. I held Jak so close I was afraid I might choke him.

"It's all your mothers fault!" he said, "She could have married a nice rich man but instead she ran away with a slummer and they got you. Now I see you made the same mistake"

Jake came forward, "You can't talk like this! Get out of here and leave my family alone!"

"Your family? Is this little girl your family too? She's my daughter! And you stole her away from me! As well as my wife!" said Ronny,"Kate had the chance to become big! But she threw it away because she would rather be with her hopeless mother and her new flame. And mark my words! Your little bastard-son will end up in the gutter before he turns three unless the baron ends his suffering here and now!"

Jak started crying, Jake looked ready to hit Ronny but before he could even move his fingers a bottle filled with liquid green eco hit Ronny hard in the head so he fell over, unconscious. Kate was still standing by the wall, using a cupboard as support, "You're not my father" she snarled at the man on the floor," And you're not allowed to harm my brother either!"

Jake grabbed my arm, "we should get out of here" he dais, "the eco is going to heal him quickly, we must get out before he wakes up"

He was right, green sparks were already appearing on Ronny's head trying to fix the swelling in his brain.

I let Jake hold Jak as I got up, "Are you ok?" I asked Kate, I noticed she had a bump in her head.

"I'm fine, lets get out of here before the guards comes" she said and got up.

As we ran out of the hospital I was wondering how Ronny had found us.

Could it be that one of the doctors had told him? Could be, a lot of the inhabitants of Haven City were followers of Praxis.

We took a few detours to shake of eventual persecutors but after a few hours we were finally home.

We had moved there right after I found out I was pregnant, there was not enough room for another child in our old house.

The house was quite near the city wall, in the finest part of the slums.

Most of the area was flooded with water; the houses were built on small islands in the muddy water. Yet it was nothing like the water slums, where fragile wooden houses where connected with even more fragile bridges.

In this part of the city, the houses were of stone or both stone and wood.

The small islands were connected by roads of stone and sand but the thing I liked best was one particular building. The last remaining building from the old village which lay where Haven City is now, this building gave the quarter its name, New Sandover.

The hut had been built high over the water's surface, on what used to be ground level before Haven's first inhabitants dug away the old cliffs.

Our house lay not far from the old hut; it was in the first floor of a building close to the wall.

As soon as we came inside I put Jak in a bed Jake built for him about a week ago.

He fell asleep as soon as he touched the pillow, poor kid, just born and already he was completely exhausted.

"Look at the little guy" said Jake, "What kind of future does he have?"

"Not an easy one that's for sure" said Kate, "unless the city gets a new leader. Unfortunately the only ones who can claim the legal rights for the throne is currently wanted, dead or alive. Praxis obviously prefers dead"

Usually I would tell Kate to not talk about the fact that her uncle wanted us dead, but I decided it was no use anyway.

"I just hope they didn't follow us" I said while I made sure Jak's blanket didn't fall off him so he would get cold, "They can't find out where we live, or we'll be done for"

"I'll look" said Kate and hurried out the door.

"She's spent a lot of her time outdoors lately" said Jake, "And she never tells us where she goes".

"It's probably a boy" I said, as I said that, I started thinking about old times.

When I was her age I often sneaked out at night to be with… it was all in the past now, a long-lost past thanks to baron Praxis.

**CHAPTER 13**

**COUNTERPART OF THE CRIMSON GUARD**

212.

Kate

I looked around to see whether the cost were clear.

Then I walked into the city, calm, without attracting unwanted attention.

I made sure the crimson guards never got to take a good look at me as I walked past them and at the same time I tried my best to look casual.

Then again, the crimson guards never cared to memorize the face of every fugitive in the city, mostly because they never expected to see any out in the streets in broad daylight.

I walked into a dead end in one of the darker parts of the slums.

For everyone else it might seem like I was going to visit someone living there. Well, it wasn't far from the truth, though the ones I was "visiting" weren't living there.

"You're late" a voice from above me said as I exited the view of any crimson guard.

A boy with brown, black-striped hair was sitting on the roof at one of the buildings; right next to him was a little yellow and blue sparrow.

"Well excuse me, mister perfect" I said, "I had a bad hair day"

"You certainly must have. Its three a clock" said Cornelius laughing, "I was afraid we had to start without you. Though for me it might be an advantage"

I threw a rock but missed, on purpose of course. Cornelius always said I was nothing but a disadvantage for him but we both new (three counting Tanya) none of us would made it on our own.

Cornelius jumped of the roof and fell onto a bag of garbage which of course broke as he hit it. It would kill for a camera at that time, well, maybe not kill.

"You laugh" said Cornelius as he got up and brushed the leftovers from the residents dinners of his clothes, "Why don't you try to jump of a roof and fall into a flowerbed, unless the great Shara Sentinel is scared of getting her hands dirty"

He used the name I took on when I ran away from home, although he did know my real name he only used it whenever we where alone, not even Tanya knew who I really was.

"I see you're not afraid to get dirty" I said, "Don't Shadow have a shower at home you can use?"

Before Cornelius could come up with a sarcastic remark a hole opened in the wall.

A man came out of the hole, "why do you take so long? We're waiting!" he said, sounding impatient (as he often did when Cornelius and I found something amusing to talk about)

"Sorry boss, I didn't mean to keep you waiting" said Cornelius.

We walked in through the hole and came in to the underground headquarters.

Apart from Shadow and us there was only one other person in there, an old man named Kor. Kor turned his head in the other direction as soon as Cornelius entered the room.

"You could try to bathe a bit more young man" he said, "You smell like you fell into a garbage bag.

"Wow Kor, I didn't know you were psychic" said Cornelius and we al laughed, even Kor.

"Enough with the jokes, we've got a city to defend" said Shadow, still giggling, "I've just heard the baron is financing a new race at the stadium, even more violent than the old ones. It seems like he's trying to make the inhabitants more violent on purpose.

"I know all about it, my brother already signed in" said Cornelius, rolling his eyes, "He's hoping to add race-champion to all the other great achievements he wants in the future"

"As if none of us know that you want that title yourself" said Tanya, "You drive like a madman"

"Then you haven't seen Erol on a zoomer" said Cornelius, "I sneaked in to one of his training sessions once. If I'm a madman, Erol is king of all madmen"

"Are you still in touch with him? Though you hated him" I said.

"Uncle Charlie told me" said Cornelius, "I dropped by earlier today to see Spot, and Tiny Blue of course" he added and smiled at me, he hadn't forgotten Tiny Blue was my favourite flut-flut.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that Cornelius" said Shadow, "It might be useful if you tried to talk to your brother sometimes. A couple of helpers inside the crimson guard might be useful for the underground".

"As if Erol would ever help the underground, he cares for no one but himself" said Tanya from her favourite spot, at the top of Cornelius' goggles, "He wants us all dead, even his own brother"

"I already fixed us some contacts within the guards, but if you haven't noticed most of my family is in the baron's fan club" Cornelius added, "But if you want us to check out the race we could do that, I could even attend if you ask me to".

"That's not necessary" said Shadow and Cornelius mood dropped several grades, "But if you need something to keep you busy, the baron just started a project about opening a new crimson school in the industrial area"

That helped the boy's mood, although I didn't like the sound of it.

"What do you want us to do boss? Blow the place up?" Cornelius asked, sounding like a kid at Christmas Eve. **(Mrs.EF: I doubt elves celebrate Christmas but that's the only example I could think of)**

"Not the whole place, you'll risk destroying nearby buildings and hurt civilians" said Shadow.

"It's always about the civilians is it?" Cornelius murmured.

"The underground was started to protect the people of Haven" I said, "besides, the industrial area is where the power station is, destroying it will cut the power supply for the entire city! Not to mention the eco shield.

"The baron would loose power too right?" said Cornelius.

"No buildings will be blown up unless I say so!" the Shadow said using his strictest voice, "The workers have left for the day, if you plant the bomb at the middle of the construction site and set it at low power it will blow up only the new school"

He gave Cornelius the small bomb. "Don't worry boss, the underground's hero is on the chase" said Cornelius, before he hurried out the door.

"I better make sure he doesn't hurt anyone out there" I said, "are you coming Tanya?"

The sparrowflut had flown of Cornelius' head and landed on the table while we were talking. "Sure, I don't have anything better to do" she said.

The industrial area wasn't far away, still Cornelius insisted in taking a zoomer. He had his own racing-zoomer parked outside HQ, locked to the wall of course so no one would take it.

Unfortunately it had two seats.

After nearly falling of twice and puking once we reached the construction site.

"Is this really it? Looks more like a fort than a school" I said.

"Trust me, this is it. The last school looked just the same" said Cornelius, "Man I wish I could blow that one up too"

I didn't comment it, many of the members of the underground had been to the crimson school and they all said the same, "it's a living hell".

"How are we going to get in?" Tanya asked, "There's guards everywhere"

"We just need a distraction" said Cornelius and took a small bag out of his pocket.

"What's that?" I asked, I couldn't help getting a bit suspicious, Cornelius rarely thought of the consequences of his actions as long as he knew it would make problems for the baron. "Relax Shar, it's just some false smoke" he said, "It looks like real fire when activated but it's completely harmless and contains no toxic gases. We just throw this at the wall at the power station and we'll be the guards' smallest concern"

He gave the small bag to Tanya and gave her the instructions needed.

She quickly took of and flew towards the power station which was quite close.

Soon we could see smoke coming from the building and al nearby guards suddenly ran towards the source to put out the "fire"

"First phase was a success!" said Cornelius, "Now it's our turn".

He climbed the fence in front of the unfinished building and I quickly followed.

As we hurried behind the building Tanya came back.

"We better hurry, it won't be long until they figure out they've been fooled" she said.

"Well we're not planning to stay behind" said Cornelius and took out the bomb Shadow gave us.

The bomb was adjustable, so we could choose if the explosion would be big or small.

In this case, we wanted it small enough to blow up the building and still not destroy the nearby houses, at least that's what I wanted.

"Don't forget to put it in the middle of the building" I whispered.

"I know, so we won't hurt the other houses" Cornelius said sounding bored, "It won't be a problem; they haven't built the roof yet so we can just climb over"

"The wall is three meters high and with no place to grip" said Tanya, "That bomb's gonna explode half a minute after it's activated, you can't possibly climb the over the wall quick enough to avoid the explosion"

For once, Cornelius didn't have a plan.

I looked around after a solution, some boxes perhaps or large rocks we could use to stand on. Then I saw something, a large steel door, locked of course but it didn't seem like it was any floor under it.

"Cornelius? Do you think there's only earth under that door?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out" said Cornelius and walked up to the door.

He started digging with his hands until he hit a wall that had been built under the ground before the hole had been filled up.

"It's too small for me to get trough" he said, "but you might, you're thinner than me".

Shadow always told me being an underground agent wouldn't be easy, especially since I insisted staying with Cornelius.

Cornelius handed me the bomb and I pushed it into the hole under the door before I crawled in.

Obviously there was some kind of basement under me but at least the gap under the door was still big enough for me to get trough. The steel door was probably just a temporary door, a small door like that wouldn't be enough to keep people out (as I had just proved)

When I came inside I entered a large room, probably it was going to become the entrance hall. I ran over to the wall closest to the middle of the building and put the bomb down before programming it to blow up after 30 seconds, the longest delay possible (new bombs had longer delays but the underground hadn't been able to get one of these yet)

The countdown started immediatetely after I pressed"Activate". I ran towards the door and threw myself down so I almost glided through without moving an inch.

Cornelius pulled me through the last bit and so we ran, making sure we were always hidden behind large rocks and machines.

Soon we found ourselves back out in the streets.

We ran in between some crowds walking past the building so we wouldn't look suspicious walking around alone.

That's when the explosion came.

The whole building just collapsed into itself and flames came out like magma out of a volcano.

The crimson guards came back from the power station, they had long since realised the fire was false alert and probably had been trying to find the culprit but this time there was no mistake, this school was history, before it was even finished.

"Underground one, crimson guards zero" Cornelius whispered.

**to be continued.  
surely there wouldn't be any Jak and Daxter without Jak, and the sequels would simply be known as 2 and 3;)**


	8. Birds and dogs

**I just noticed a typo in the last chapter(s), both were labeled chapter 13, that's not right.. The last one was of course supposed to be nr 14.  
That's all I've got to say for today, since I haven't got a new review since last time.**

**But anyway, I proudly present chapter 15 and 16. Where I can intuduce another of my own characters/animal and one old friend from Jak2. Enjoy, and review;)**

**CHAPTER 15**

**A FLUT-FLUT CALLED SPIKE**

212. The next week

Cornelius

Kate and I had decided to go visit the flut-flut-ranch.

Getting there without being noticed by the crimson guards proved to be too easy.

We walked trough an old drain pipe by the water slums which led us straight into the wasteland. From there I managed to call Spot, and he took us the rest of the way out to the farm. Much had changed since Kate's last visit; she hadn't been there since the baron took over. But her favourite bird, Tiny Blue, was still there, and still he was the same size though she hadn't seen him in twelve years.

My uncle says flut-fluts have good memory, and it seemed to be true with Tiny Blue.

"He looks even smaller than last time" Kate said as the bright blue bird ran up to her, "But maybe it's just because I've grown"

More birds came up to us to say hi, even Phoenix, who now had grown up to become a big strong bird.

Still there was one bird who kept the distance.

"What's with that striped bird over there? Is he scared or something?" Kate asked.

"Scared? I doubt it. That's Spike. He's been the leader of the pack since Rocko died" I answered,"Though he's not a very good one"

Kate looked curious, "how is that even possible? The only thing an Alfa male have to do is to protect his family and mate with the females. Doesn't he want to protect them?"

"Oh, he protects them alright. Yet he hasn't been very popular amongst the girls. He's taken on this bad habit of fighting the other birds, no matter how old they are or what sex they are" I explained, "He's been like that since a couple of years ago. He managed to run away but Erol (show-off) captured him a few months later. He was very weak, hadn't been able to feed himself on his own. But apart from that he had changed".

"So he used to be different?"

"Correct. He was quite a nice bird actually as far as I remember. But after he escaped he's become more aggressive. Now he can't even go five minutes without trying to get a fight going"

"Poor thing. He must have had a hard time" said Kate, "Does wild flut-fluts fight a lot?"

"Not really. Sometimes they attack intruders or a new leader can chase chicks of the old one away but Spike attacks everyone, even those of his own pack"

"Luckily all of Rocko's chicks grew up before he died" a voice said behind us, my uncle Charlie came with a bucket of food for the birds, "I always make sure I don't mate the old leaders when they're nearing the end of their lives. Though my attempts don't always work out" he looked at Spot and smiled, "But it worked out fine. Rocko lived a bit longer than I was expecting and Spot reached puberty just before he died. And Tiny Blue, even if he's small he's way over fully grown"

Tiny Blue got up and tried to make himself look bigger by making his feathers stand up.

"But you must be hungry after the long trip, do you want to stay for dinner?" Charlie asked.

"I'd love to! I didn't get much lunch today. My little brother got sick and threw up so I lost my appetite" said Kate.

"Little brother suck" I said, "At least that's what Erol always say. I doubt it is any worse than having a big brother though"

As we walked in to the kitchen the birds gathered around the food tray as well. Charlie always fed his birds when he got hungry, that way he knew they would get food as well.

We could se the birds from the kitchen window.

Phoenix was eating as if this could be his last meal, as wild birds usually do. Tiny Blue acted like a baby and spread half his food around over the grass fields, much of this was eaten by the younger birds or Phoenix.

Spike tried to chase the other birds away from the tray and when that didn't work he grabbed a mouthful and ran away to eat it alone.

Spot ate half as much as the other birds, the other half of his food he gave to Phoenix who happily accepted it, (no wonder that bloody bird became so big)

"Do they always do like that?" Kate asked while she was giggling.

"Every single day" Tanya said, she was sitting on the kitchen unit eating birdseeds, "Watch, any minute now Phoenix will walk over and try to steal Spike's food"

And sure enough, as soon as she had said that we heard bird-cries outside and we saw Phoenix running across the field with a pissed of Spike who tried to bite his tail of.

The flut-fluts quickly finished eating, all except Phoenix who was still looking for leftovers, the rest of the birds went back to their daily routine, as for Spike, this meant terrorising the chicks. With no luck of course, the mother was always close by and she called on her sisters and occasionally the chick's father and chased their leader away.

All grades were forgotten whenever a chick was in trouble.

After failing the third time Spike was getting sick of trying.

He yelled at the bird mothers but they only yelled back and chased him even further away.

I was tired of watching, it was the same routine every day, so I went back to eating.

After looking away for just a few seconds I heard a bird cry again and Kate shouted "Tiny Blue!" She was pointing towards the fence where Spike stood with a firm grip around Tiny Blue's neck, the little bird was crying like nuts.

"What's that crazy bird doing?" I said and quickly got up.

"I must have gotten sick of being chased away by angry mothers, so he decided to attack Tiny Blue instead, our smallest adult" said Charlie.

"We have to help him!" Kate said and ran straight for the door, Charlie got up too, and he took a gun out of a closed and followed her.

"This has gone too far" he said to me, "Spike is getting way to dangerous"

I ran after them out the door, I have to admit I was scared.

It's strange, but even after seeing tons of metalheads and occasionally crimson guards die in different ways I was more scared than ever for what would happen to that little flut-flut. Tiny Blue was on the other side of the fence but I heard him like he was right next to me. He screamed and cried for help, but who could help him? His mother, Katja, looked at him nervous, but she was still busy protecting her last chick, a four months old female named Lucy. I didn't want to see this, we were too far away! We would never make it! I closed my ears and heard screaming, but soon I heard other birds scream as well, the same sound I had heard before, when Erol and I was standing in front of the fire wall separating us from the wild flut-flut-pack. I opened my eyes again.

Phoenix was standing right in front of Spike, who was still holding Tiny Blue, and kicked his foot in the ground.

Could it be? Was Phoenix trying to challenge Spike for leadership?

Spike hissed, it sounded funny since he was still holding Tiny Blue in his beak.

This didn't look very good, Phoenix might be born in the wild and ate twice as much as the other birds, but Spike was older and stronger.

"What's Phoenix doing?" asked Kate "Is he trying to save Tiny?"

"Possible, at least he is" said Tanya.

Spot came running and as he passed Spike he grabbed his older brother and dragged him out of Spikes beak. Spike hissed again but before he was able attack Spot, Phoenix bit him in the neck. Spike turned towards Phoenix but once again he was bitten, this time both Spot and Tiny Blue grabbed his neck and pulled him over.

Spike was furious, he got up on his feet quicker than Phoenix eats his food and turned to attack the brothers.

He never got to them, another bird grabbed his tail, and this time it was no other than Fluffy. Spike turned to face the newcomer but as he did that Spot and Phoenix attacked him from behind again.

"Would you look at that, Erol's flut-flut might stand a chance" said Charlie, "Spike might be the strongest bird at the ranch but Phoenix has got strong allies"

It looked like every bird fitted for fighting threw themselves into the fight.

Even some of the mothers came to join, leaving the chicks to seek security with us.

Katja led the herd of angry mothers and went for Spike like a pack of hungry wolves.

"Me have to stop this before we loose a bird" Charlie said and ran towards the birds.

He shouted and yelled at the birds to make them move away; soon he had managed to scatter them all, except three of them.

Tiny Blue was on the ground, too injured to walk, same story with Spike, Phoenix was still holding on to his neck.

"It's over spitfire, leave him" Charlie said to Phoenix, the wild bird seemed reluctant to leave but soon he joined the others, as I watched how the other birds greeted him it became clear to me that the herd had a new leader.

Kate ran up to Tiny Blue.

"Poor dear, are you okay?" she asked. Tiny Blue twittered weakly and laid his head on her knee. "We better get them both indoors" said Charlie "And I'm afraid Spike would have to be put in an own enclosure, there's no way we can put him back with the herd now". The other birds had taken few or no damage at all. Phoenix had a rift on his neck but he would live. Katja had lost many tail feathers; she was now trying to comfort Lucy, even though she was still looking at Tiny Blue.

Uncle Charlie carried Tiny in to the stable and Kate and I helped carry Spike into a box where no other bird could get to him. It wasn't very hard; the beaten leader was too weak to even move. Spot, Phoenix and Katja followed us in to the stable. Katja even managed to open the door in to Tiny Blue's box where she ran in and laid down next to her son.

Lucy came in after her and lay down at the other side. "That little bird's got a good family; they are probably beginning to realize Tiny Blue will never be a real adult.

"I can't believe Spike attacked him like that! Tiny Blue was defenceless!" said Kate, "I know some birds attack chicks when they want to mate with their mothers but Tiny Blue didn't have a mother there to protect him, Katja mated tons of times after his birth right?"

"You're right Shara, its strange" said Charlie, "It appears Spike simply like to kill"

I looked over to the box where Spike was, he was already beginning to recover and raised his head and glared at me.

"Why are you doing this?" I wondered.

**CHAPTER 16**

**A NEW FAMILY-MEMBER**

212. 

Kate

I didn't come home until late that night, mom was busy changing Jak's diapers when I came in but I couldn't see Jake anywhere?

"You're late" said mom, she wasn't angry, just surprised, "Did you have so much fun you forgot time?"

"Something like that" I answered, fun's not exactly the word, I added in my head but I didn't say it out loud, "Where's dad?"

"At work I guess" mom said, "He'll be home soon… I think he hear him"

Sure enough, someone was opening the door and soon Jake, my stepfather, came in the door to the living room with a large cardboard box in his hands.

"Hi dad" I said, giving him a hug, "What's in the box?"

"Just a little thing I got from a guy at work today" he answered, "You remember mr. Rock right? He had a little dog you loved so much".

"Yeah, Kiki was so adorable" I said.

Kiki was a crocadog, a dog breed that looks like a mix between dog and crocodile.

"And guess what? She's got puppies" said dad and opened the box.

As soon as he had opened it a tiny green and yellow pup jumped out.

"Aren't dogs like that aggressive?" mom asked while lifting Jak of the table.

"No, not unless they are trained to be" dad said and petted the puppy's head. It barked happily and waged his tail.

"He's so cute dad! What's his name?" I asked.

"I figured you could give him one" dad said, "He's our dog now, so I hope you and your brother will look well after him"

"As soon as Jak learns to look after himself" said mom.

I could hardly believe it, my own dog! Well, he wasn't really my own, but he belonged to my family. Not many of the neighbours had any pets; few of them could actually afford it since the baron raised the taxes.

"I think I'll call him Crocket" I said.


	9. Love and danger

**Guess it's time I updated this (although I haven't got a single review since the last time). But anyway, in this chapter I made up my own answer to the question I've been asking myself about since I started playing Jak2, how did the crimson guards know Jak were coming? You know they say "there he is, move in" as soon as they see him, and the baron says he's been told "this one would be different". I also sneaked in some romance in chapter 18, Erol meets a special girl (giggles) my first attemt at romance in a fic, I'm not very good at these things. R&R**

**CHAPTER 17**

**THE PROPHESY**

213. month 1

Jake

I had taken a small trip out to the bazaar; it was nice to get out sometime.

Kate was out with a friend and Maria had taken Jak and Crocket to the park while I, I was just walking around looking at the different shops placed around the market.

The stands around here had a much larger selection than the ones in the slums of course, if you wanted something very special, this was the place to get it.

I wondered if I should bring home nice gift to Maria, perhaps a new bracelet.

"Hey you!"  
I turned around to find the source of the sound, but I didn't see anyone.

"Down here smartass!"

I looked down, a macaw was sitting at my feet, or… it looked like a macaw, but it had a long striped tail and the face of a monkey.

"Who are you?" I asked, resisting the urge to say "what are you?"

"My name's Pecker" said the moncaw, "And I've got a message from Onin, the soothsayer".

"Who is that? And why doesn't she come tell herself?" I asked.

"She's got her reasons, besides, I'm much faster than she is and have easier to hide if I the guards find me. But let's not spend all our time on presentations. I've got important news about your son"

"What do you know about my son?" I asked I started to get nervous; could it be a crimson guard-trick?

"There's no reason to be afraid, mr. Sentinel. Unless you raise your voice and attract every guard in the area. The only one who's got a reason to be afraid is your kid, Onin fears he might be in big danger" Pecker said.

"You tell me" I answered and rolled my eyes.

"You fear the baron and his brother, I can understand that. But they're not your biggest problem. The metalheads have heard of him to, because you know who he related to don't you?" asked Pecker.

"Of course I know. But what has that to do with the metalheads? Why would they care who's running the city?" I asked him.  
"Oh, they wouldn't care less about that. But the thing is, your son, and the same with your wife and your stepdaughter, all relates to Mar, who founded this town. But he was known for doing more than that. Have you ever heard of the precursor stone?"

I got a bit surprised as he said that, "I thought that was only a legend" I said, sounding shocked.

"Oh, it exists alright" Pecker answered, "It is said to rest within Mar's tomb. And only Mar's true heir can open the tomb's door. And the only remnants of that family live in your house! The metalheads are in this city mister Sentinel, Onin can sense their presence, and if they manage to capture Mar's heir…"

He stopped there; he had made his point clear enough.

I knew what he feared at the moment he mentioned the precursor stone.

Old legends said that Mar found the stone long before building Haven City, it was said to contain huge powers, the most powerful precursor artefact in the world.

"What can I do to stop them?" I asked.

"Nothing, all you can do for now is to make sure he grows up safely until he gets old enough to face the threat. Unfortunately Onin has foreseen the metalheads forces are getting stronger! The kid can't be safe here for long" said Pecker.

"Sounds like we're doomed then" I said, "there are metalheads everywhere, so there's no way we can get him to a safe place!"

"Correct, there is no way he can be safe in today's Haven City. But if he had been sent back to the time before the metalheads came, he might be able to grow up safe from harm".

It did sound smart, until he mentioned time-travelling.

"How are we supposed to do that?" I asked, "I doubt this Onin has a time machine"  
"No, Onin does not have a time machine, but she has foreseen the coming of a great hero, one who has the power to control all kinds of eco. This hero will help the heir of Mar to find his destiny! We haven't figured out when he arrives, Onin's prophesies aren't that specific" the moncaw answered, "But we know he will come soon and when that… what was that?"

I turned around and looked in the direction Pecker was looking and just got a glimpse of someone running around the corner.

"I'm out of her" said Pecker and flapped his large wings and started flying, "You better run to if you want to live"

I didn't need to be asked twice, I hurried down the streets to get home, to warn Maria!

But she wasn't home! I stopped short, the park! I had to get to the park to find her.

I turned around and ran towards the park, so fast I didn't see where I was going and slammed into someone and fell over.

"I'm sorry" I said, without looking up, "I didn't see where I was going. I…"

"What's the rush Mister Sentinel?" a voice asked.

I looked up, two heavy built crimson guards were standing in front of me, they stood on either side of a young boy, hardly older than Kate, but he did have a crest on his shoulder which proved he was a recruit in the crimson guard.

The young boy talked again, "we would like a little chat"

**CHAPTER 18**

**EROL'S FIRST LOVE**

213. Month 2

Erol

I felt quite good today.

Only nineteen years old and already head of a crimson guard patrol.

Thanks to the information we forced out of Jake Sentinel I had managed to find a perfect guinea pig for baron Praxis' "experiments", something that was doomed to turn our luck in this war.

He wanted to create a perfect dark warrior by using the highly powerful dark eco.

My only concern was that this warrior may make me and the rest of the guards superfluous but my uncle assured me he would always need the crimson guards, if not to fight the metalheads he needed someone who could handle the creature his experiments might create.

Although I couldn't see how that kid could help us, he appeared to be my age, and he had never been through the rough training I had gotten in the crimson school.

Then again, according to the bird-monkey this kid was extremely good at channelling eco. This was a very rare gift, people said Mar himself could do it and rumours said it was hereditary, but none of his heirs felt like trying. If you didn't have the gift, even the most stabile kinds of eco (red, blue and yellow) could be deadly. Green eco had never killed anyone, but used unwisely it had been known to cause illness and/or deformity.

But today I didn't worry about what happened to the boy, if he died I could take out the metalheads myself, if he made it, well, we had one more advantage.

I kept thinking over and over again what I would say if I ever got interviewed after the metalheads' defeat, you can't be too prepared.

But as I walked past a dark alley lost in my own thoughts I heard a scream, it sounded like a young girl, and she was in trouble.

"Come on sweetypie, just a small kiss?" a darker voice said.

I looked around the corner and saw three boys standing over a smaller elf, the girl, she was scared to death.

"Get away from me!" she cried, but the boys just laughed.

"Don't worry my love, we won't hurt you" said one of them, "We just want to take you out on the city to have a good time"

It was obvious these guys wanted more from this girl than just "a good time", _this is not you problem_ I thought for myself, _your job is to fight metalheads and rebellions, not stopping small criminals._

Still a part of me wanted to help the young girl.

I could handle them, it didn't seem like anyone of them had weapons. Fine! I could chase away those bad guys and go home, no problem.

"Hey you!" I shouted.

The three boys turned around at the same time.

"What do you want? Squirt?" one of them asked.

"Leave that girl alone!" I said.

"Or what? You'll tell your mommy?" another one said, laughing.

"Leave her!" I repeated, taking out my crimson guard badge, "Or you'll all be arrested!"

The boys suddenly turned all pale.

"Hey, relax man. We we're just kidding" one of them said, "Sorry miss. We're leaving now", and they did, I never thought I had ever seen anyone run like that.

I turned to the girl.

She was sitting in the corner crying.

"Eh… are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she said and wiped the tears of her face before she got up, "Thanks for helping me out".

"It was nothing" I said, _and now I'm leaving, no reason to stay around_ "Do you…eh… live nearby?"

"Well… I… I'm not sure" the girl said"

"Are you new in town?" I asked her.

"Yeah, that's right, I just got here" she answered, "You don't know anywhere I could sleep do you?"

_No, I don't have time for this! _"Sure, there's a hotel nearby" I said, "I can take you there"

"Thank you so much" the girl said and smiled.

Now that she was no longer sitting in the dark alley I could see her face.

She had beautiful green eyes and her hair was green and blue.

I lead her to the hotel and got her a nice room.

"You'll probably like it here, at least until you find somewhere else to stay" I said as she sat down on the bed.

"The bed seems comfy enough" she said, "But where's my manners? I haven't even presented myself yet! My name is Keira, Keira Hagai. What's your name?"

"Ehm. Erol Elfin" I said, damn! Why was my face all red? "But you must be tired after today's happenings, you should probably rest so I should probably go", that's a lot of probably in one line.

"You will be back won't you?"

What was I supposed to say? I had already saved her life and got her a place to stay, was I supposed to be her baby-sitter too or what?

"I'll be back tomorrow" I said, "I promise"


	10. Disaster hits New Sandover

**Miss. Ecofreak: finally! chapter 19 is finished**

**Zakura: it's not correct due to Jak 3 tough, You've got reviews.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: happy times (reads review) oh... Well let's take the first ones first.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: Thanks for the information Happy Jak, I'll make sure to get Keira's last name right in future apperances. As for this little romance-thing... Erol has had some arguments with Jak during Jak2 and one of them actually includes Keira, (in the race garage) Erol claimsKeira loves a winner. I don't know if he really likes her or if it's for another reason but this is a fanfic, many fanfics includes couples who would never last in the game.**

**As for what the rabbit said earlier... this is an anwer to both Happy Jak and Dark Mar. I hadn't played Jak3 when I wrote this story, I got it the 24 and am just finished so I know Jaks family isn't all like they should have been.  
Then againg changing this so it would be correct would mean rewriting the entire story so I let it stay like this for now. I'll try to make the rest of the story more accurate in the future but Jak's family has to stay like this at least for this story.**

**Zakura: I guess this chapter don't have a place in Jak3's story either**

**Miss. Ecofreak: no... but it suits this one. I only uploaded one chapter this time because I got a bit sick of putting two chapters in at once. This one might be a nightmare for all of you who doesen't like changing of POV because it changes three times during one chapter. so maybe it was better that I put this chapter in alone, or else it would have been four POV's to keep track of**

**Zakura: wasn't this actually the first chapter you wrote?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: more or less. originally i wanted to write a prequel to another story I wanted to write which telled of how Jak lost his parents, then I wanted to show some more of his sister as well, it ended up going back 15 years before the original story which only included the first draft of this chapter, where you also see why parts of Haven is called Dead Town.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 19**

**DISASTER HITS NEW SANDOVER**

215. Month 7

Maria

My life had gone from one disaster to the next.

Fourteen years ago my uncle and the whole city's good leader had died in a fire and been replaced by the worst tyrant known to elven kind, six years later I had left my husband, father of my first child and met my new husband. Things seemed to turn to the better two years ago when my son was born.

Unfortunately Jake had disappeared last year. I suspected the baron had something to do with it and Kate had gone out every day to look for him, along with her friend Cornelius.

But today it was hard to think about all these happenings.

The sun was shining from an almost clear sky and it was so hot that whenever the clouds came between us and the sun it was only a relief.

I sat in a chair outside the house, little Jak was playing with Crocket in the garden.

Kate had gone to visit Cornelius again.

It was a perfect day.

"Mommy! Look! Jak demanded, I opened my eyes and watched him toss a small stick.

"Fech it Clocket!" he shouted and Crocket ran after the stick and came back with it.

"Isn't him gleat?" Jak asked as he took the stick from Crocket.

"Sure Jak, the greatest dog there is" I said smiling.

No, nothing could go wrong today.

But nothings perfect, and it turned out this day was no exception.

The silence was broken by a large roar.

"What was dat mom?" Jak asked.

People came running past our house, one of them stopped in front of us.

"The metalheads are coming Maria!" he shouted, "They have broken through the city wall! Take your kid and get away, quickly!"

Metalheads in the city? I couldn't believe it. But still I didn't want to wait and see if the neighbour was right. I picked up Jak and ran towards the inner city wall with Crocket running after me, he barked constantly and I knew he had caught the smell of the monsters.

I turned around to see, ten or twelve of the most vicious looking creatures I have ever seen came running past the streets, killing anyone who got in their way.

Metalheads.

Most of them were small, like scorpions covered by metal plates or black and blue toads wearing a metal helmet.

Two of them were much bigger; they ran after us on four long legs and looked like large red dogs. These too were covered in metal.

All had four yellow eyes and on their forehead, a greenish yellow gem called skull gems.

Hunters hunting outside the city liked to collect these gems to show their friends how many metalheads they had killed.

I didn't plan to stay behind to look at the monsters, I just ran at top speed with Jak in my arms.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my foot and fell over.

One of the scorpion-metalheads had grabbed my leg with his sharp tail and held it tightly. His buddies came and grabbed my other foot.

I let go of Jak and pushed him forward.

"Run Jak! Get away from here" I shouted.

Jak hesitated, he just stared at me until Crocket came and grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

I saw them run around a corner when I felt one of the larger metalheads jump up on my back.

Then it all went black.

Samos

Metalheads in the city? Impossible.

That's what I thought when I first heard it but I had to come see for myself.

Now I could see them clearly.

The metal covered monsters came crawling through a large whole in the old city wall.

The thing that surprised me the most was that there was no sign of any crimson guards in the section, not a single one.

I tried to fight them of, and at the same time making sure that the citizens got away.

I had no weapons but a small gun, I didn't usually like to kill things but metalheads was an exception.

I noticed a toad-like metalhead was fighting a small dog.

Although the dog and the metalhead were both the same size the metalhead had an advantage, its metal covered head.

I took aim and shoot the metalhead.

As soon as its opponent had died the dog turned to me and growled.

"Don't be afraid little one, I'm not going to hurt you" I said calm.

The dog just kept growling, and then I noticed there was something under a plate he seemed to be guarding.

I pushed the small crocadog away but it kept barking as I removed the plate.

Underneath it was a boy, probably about two-three years old.

He was very scared and I could see he was crying.

The metalheads had obviously taken his parents and this dog was probably his pet.

"Poor kid, what are you doing here all by yourself?" I asked.

The boy just kept crying.

"Come on kid, I'll get you out of here" I said and took the kid's hand.

That made the crocadog angry; it jumped up and bit my arm.

The kid reacted by pulling the dog away and tried to comfort it by petting it on the head.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to help" I said, both to the kid and his dog. "You can't stay here, come, I'll take you somewhere you can be safe"

At least the boy believed me; he took my hand while the crocadog kept growling, but at least he didn't attack again.

We hadn't gotten far when a man in a yellow armour appeared around a corner.

A crimson guard and judging by the colour of his armour he was very high ranked.

I felt the adrenaline started flowing, though no one outside the underground knew I was working against the baron I still got a bit scared seeing a guard looking straight at me, but I stayed calm.

"About time someone came to help" I said, sounding irritated "Is this the better future the baron always talks about?"  
"The baron ordered this entire section is forbidden area" The guard said, "I knew I shouldn't have listened to him"

Well, this seemed to prove that even crimson guards could be against the baron.

"Do you mind helping me out? I have to find out why the metalheads attacked this section. Will you please escort the kid and his dog to the new city wall?" I asked him. **(Ms.Ef: please don't ask why there are two city walls; I just needed a way for them to get away from the monsters)**

"I can fight the metalheads" the guard said.

"Please take the kid, at least you don't need an excuse if the other guards see you come out of a forbidden area with a young boy" I said, "I don't even live in this section, so it would look a bit suspicious."  
Finally the guard agreed, I left the kid with him and ran of to find the rest of the metalheads.

I was a bit worried about the kid though, although part of my brain kept saying the crimson guards had no reason to harm a kid, I had a small feeling saying he needed protection, even from the crimson guards.

I was a bit angry about what the guard had said though.

The entire section had been abandoned, and right after the metalheads broke through and the citizens were left with no one to help them.

After all his speeches about a safe future he leaves New Sandover to the metalheads.

Finally I found the last metalheads in front of the old hut; obviously they wanted to get in.

One of them had by accident managed to destroy the bridge and now the others were yelling at him.

They argued only for a few seconds, and then the four metalheads attacked the fifth one (apparently it was the one that had broken the bridge) and ate him alive.

I looked away for a moment, even though I knew they were metalheads, the enemy, I didn't want to see that monster get eaten alive by his comrades.

When I opened my eyes again only three metalheads remained, one had been kicked down into the water during the struggle.

I took by gun and shoot the remaining.

I walked up to them to make sure they were dead and then I felt something strange. It was coming from the hut.

Apparently there was some sort of energy field inside it which attracted the metalheads, which explained why they came.

But why didn't the baron stop them?

There was no time to wonder about that, I had to get back to the kid.

Crimson guard

Apart from the constant growling and barking from the crocadog it was no problem getting the kid inside the new city wall.

I had carried the kid all the way and now I put him down right beside the entrance to New Sandover.

"That damn baron" I said to myself and threw my helmet in the ground so it almost hit the kid's dog. It ran up to his owner and stood guard beside him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" I said to the dog.

It kept growling, the kid held the dog back so he wouldn't attack.

"What's your name kid?" I asked.

The kid didn't answer, he just held on to the dog's collar.

"I can understand if you don't want to talk after an experience like that" I said.

I looked at the kid and smiled, that's when I saw it. The kid had some sort of amulet hidden under his clothes.

I pulled it out, the amulet was red, and had the shape of two circles spinning around each other like two comets. I knew this sign!

"Damn metalheads. If anyone's worse than the baron it has to be them!"

I turned around; the old man came out through the security door.

He looked up when he saw me, "is the kid okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's fine" I said, "But you better come look"

The man came up too us, "great precursor" he said, "the seal of Mar!

**Miss. Ecofreak: anyone who wants to guess who the crimson guard is?**

**Zakura: I knew there was another reason why you didn't upload two chapters this time**

**Miss. Ecofreak: right. The identity of the crimson guard will be revealed in the next chapter.**

**Zakura: Is it Ashelin?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: Ashelin is a girl stupid rabbit.**

**Zakura: she could have been dressed as a man because she didn't want to get recognised.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: Perhaps we should stop here. Before Zakura manages to guess who it is. Remember to review, and tell who you think this guard really is**

**Zakura: could it be baron Praxis?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: forgive her. she has never played Jak2**


	11. Unwelcome

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay. time to answer the big question asked in the last chapter**

**Zakura: I can't wait!**

**Miss. Ecofreak: you must be the only one who doesn't get it. Both my reviewers have guessed on Torn**

**Zakura: both of them? Wow, funny coinsidence that they both were thinking the same thing!**

**Miss. Ecofreak: or... it might be because it was the obvious answer! **

**Zakura: so who was it then?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: just read will you? Another thing, in this chapter, Cornelius finally explain why he hates the baron (apart from the obvious reasons of course). Read on and you will find out**

**CHAPTER 20**

**AN UNRELIABLE NEWCOMER**

Kate

"Can't this thing go any faster?"

"Faster? Who are you and what have you done to my friend?"

"This is an emergency Cornelius! Faster!"

"It's not that easy with all the zoomers around" Cornelius shouted to drown the sounds from the zoomer-engines, "We're going to crash!" **(Ms.EF: I do that a lot when I drive the zoomer too fast)**

"So get down into the lower hover zone, we have to hurry" I shouted back.

Cornelius gave up his protests, he pressed the button to change hover zone and the zoomer flew down to ground level and hit at least three civilians who weren't fast enough to get away.

I didn't care, I had to get home. Even though I had to risk letting Cornelius go at top speed.

I prayed to the precursors that I wouldn't come too late; it was half an hour since I heard the metalheads had broken through. It was more than enough time to… I didn't want to think about it.

"Can't you go any faster?" I shouted.

"If you keep on shouting you can walk" was the answer.

Finally we reached the inner wall, and the passage way to New Sandover.

I jumped of the zoomer before Cornelius had time to stop.

Shadow was standing near the passage, and he wasn't alone, at his side stood an elite crimson guard and between them a crocadog and a little boy, I felt relieved, at least Jak had survived.

"Wow, you came here fast, I thought you were at the port?" Shadow said when he noticed me.

"Don't try to be Shara's driver during an emergency" Cornelius said sounding tired, he had managed to park his zoomer but smoke was coming from the engine, "This baby needs an overhaul" he said looking at the vehichle.

His eyes went from the zoomer over to the crimson guard next to Shadow.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he asked.

"It's ok Cornelius, he's a friend. He helped me get this kid to safety" Shadow said, "By the way; these are my friends, Shara and Cornelius, and Cornelius' little friend Tanya"

"If you say "the commander's brother" I'm going to rip your ears of" Cornelius warned.

"To be honest I didn't know he had a brother" the guard said, "My name is Torn, and yes I am a crimson guard, but not for long. I'm sick of the baron's attempts to make this city a "better place"".

"Really? You don't think he's doing a great job?" Cornelius asked, he wasn't looking at the guard, Torn, he was looking at the passage into New Sandover.

"Who's this kid?" Tanya asked as soon as she had caught her breath, I swear she must have held it in since we started breaking the speed limit.

"This kid? I found him out there. And he was wearing this" Shadow said, he showed us a read amulet. Jak had gotten it from mother; it used to be my uncle's.

Tanya recognised the seal immediately, "Mar's seal?" she said, "But does that mean he's…"

"Jacob's nephew" I said before I could stop myself, "Son of Maria and the citizen who helped her escape"

"That explains it all" Torn said, "The baron must have found out Maria was living here, I have suspected for a long time that he has no plans of giving the throne back to Mar's heirs"

"Whoopee, we've got a genius on the team" Cornelius said, "If you know all this what are you doing with the crimson guard?"

"Relax Cornelius. He's on our side" Shadow said.

"Really? And how do you know he's not a spy?" Cornelius asked,"That guy's a member of the crimson guards, and even worse, the elite! And you're going to trust him just like that?"

"Not all the crimson guards are like your brother Cornelius" Shadow said, "Some might even have been forced to join".

"I was forced to join but I'm not going with them" Cornelius complained, "He's going to put us all in danger! If you let him join you sign your own death sentence. Why don't you just go ask Erol to kill us all now? Cause I swear he will. Go ask any other agent in the underground and I'm sure they agree, right Shara?"

I really wished he hadn't asked me, I was to busy comforting Jak to even care, "Torn did save Jak didn't he?" I said, "That's got to count for something".

Torn turned to me, "You seem to know a lot about this kid?" he said.

"I knew his father" I said quickly, "He was my teacher at school"

"Don't tell him too much, he might tell the baron" said Cornelius.

"You really hate the crimson guards don't you?" Torn asked.

"Of course I do! They work for Praxis! And I hate Praxis" Cornelius said,"You would too if you knew the truth".

Torn just looked at him, "What truth?" he asked, "Can it be worse than this?" he pointed at the passage as he said the last thing.

I had to admit I was curious, what did Cornelius know about the baron what we didn't?

"Cornelius, why don't you just tell him?" Tanya asked, "You've been keeping it a secret for so long".

But Cornelius didn't talk, he turned away refusing to look at any of us.

"Come on Cornelius, what is it?" Shadow asked.

"If you don't say it I will" Tanya said.

"Fine I'll tell!" Cornelius said, "I knew I shouldn't have told you" he said to the bird before he turned to us again, "But I'm warning you Torn, if you tell the other guards I'll show you how much I resemble my brother. (The violent side of him)

When I was four years old my parents went with my aunt and uncle to a dinner party at Jacob's house. My uncle had just become commander back then.

This was the same night the fire broke out. As you might have heard the baron claimed someone had started the fire so that it would kill Jacob, but he never told who"

"The culprit was never found" Torn said sounding confused.

"Of course he wasn't. And don't think that only because I was a kid I was imagining things" Cornelius continued, "I went exploring in the basement.

There I saw two crimson guards and overheard their conversation.

They started the fire! By order of the commander who later became baron Praxis"

That didn't really come as a surprise to me but Torn was shocked.

"Why haven't you said anything?" he asked, "If more people had known they wouldn't have joined him in the first place."

"Use your brain if you've got one genius" Cornelius said sounding very irritated, "If a four year old came up to you and told you this would you believe him? Or imagine you were one of your loyal crimson guard comrades and heard this from an underground agent like myself. What do you think that guard would have done?"  
"He would have locked you up. I get the point" Torn said,"I want to help stop the baron. I might even be able to convince some others as well".

"No way!" Cornelius shouted, unfortunately he wasn't the boss.

"That sounds like a great idea Torn" Shadow said, "Just don't tell them too much at first. We don't want to risk traitors on our team do we Cornelius?"

"I know when I'm defeated" Cornelius muttered, "But mark my words Torn, or whatever your name was. If you cross the line once you will get trouble with the undergrounds top agent. And don't think I wouldn't know, I already got informants on top level in the crimson guard"

"Don't mind him, he's mostly all talk" I whispered.

**Zakura: Torn? wow! I can't beileve it!**

**Miss. Ecofreak: who did you think it was? Erol?**

**Zakura: no... of course not! (whispers innocently) And what Cornelius said really surprised me! How could the baron do something like this?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: You should stoptalking about stuff you don't know anything about, it makesyou sound like an idiot.That's all we had for you today. remember to review:)**


	12. An unexpected sidekick

**Miss. Ecofreak: I've been looking forward to uploading this chapter. Another original character will appear**

**Zakura: who is it this time? me?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: you're not an original Jak and Daxter-character.**

**Zakura: but I am original! Your grandma said she had never seen any rabbits of my color before**

**Miss. Ecofreak: But I've seen a lot, your mother even had the same color. You almost got the same color as Daxter. **

**But never mind that. let's just see what ridiculous plans Cornelius has for us today**

**Cornelius: (appears out of nowhere) HEY!**

**CHAPTER 21**

**AN UNEXPECTED SIDEKICK**

215. Month 9

Cornelius

Torn had been accepted with open arms in the underground but that didn't mean I had to trust him.

For now I didn't care much, though I kept asking my friends in the guard and even they seemed sure that Torn was a good guy.

I trusted two crimson guards, and even they had to pass hard tests to prove their loyalty.

As for Torn, I just saw him as another one of those who had passed the examination at the crimson school (my two informants confirmed he had been there) just to become a private soldier for the baron.

Today I didn't have time to care, more and more people were accepted into the crimson school and Jacob was as good as forgotten.

According to our great leader there was nothing we could do about it.

But Shadow was wrong! There was one way! He was just too weak to see it.

At this point I agreed with the baron. This was a war, and in war people die.

We had already stopped the baron's plan of building a new crimson school but the old one, the one I was sent too, was still there.

"Have I ever told you that you are nuts?" Tanya asked like for the tenth time, "You can't just blow up the entire crimson school! Not all of the students are Praxis' biggest fans you know"

"It doesn't matter. It's the only way" I said, "We have to stop this once and for all"

"Shadow will not be happy about this, even if you do succeed" Kate said, she sat on the couch with her little brother and Crocked, who growled every time I came near.

"Samos is too soft!" I said, "He thinks it will all be alright if all he does is sit on his but and tell people the baron is a moron! We have to be tough to beat the baron, even if Shadow disagrees!"

"What about Ashelin then? Is she going to suffer because of her father?" Kate asked, she kept reminding me of my cousin every time I got to violent, perhaps because her own father was Praxis' brother.

"Ashelin finished crimson school ages ago! She will not get hurt" I assured her.

"I know that, but there might be more people like her at that school" Kate said.

"Doing this means you will sink down at your brothers level" Tanya commented, "Is that what you want?"

"You don't have to come along. I can do this on my own" I said, "Just don't come crawling back to me when the citizens worship me as a hero"

I walked out, I was sick of the girls' commentaries.

But just as I started my zoomer's engine Kate ran out followed by Tanya, Jak and Crocket.

"Wait for me" Kate said, "I still don't agree with your methods Cornelius, but someone has to make sure you don't destroy more than you have to"

"Thought you were looking after the kid?" I asked, "You did volunteer"

"We can drop him of at Kor's house on the way" Kate said, "He love the boy so I'm sure he won't mind"  
it wasn't easy riding the small zoomer with both me, Kate, the kid and his dog but luckily Kor wasn't living far away.

As soon as we dropped the kid of we drove towards the school.

The place hadn't changed since I was here last, at least not from the outside.

As I looked at the walls my mind projected an image of the large red building inside and I could almost see a little black and brown-haired boy getting yelled at while his older red-haired brother stood by and laughed.

"This place gives me shivers" Kate said, "How is it on the inside?"  
"You'll see" I said, not wanting to describe the school for her, though if I did she might not be as reluctant to destroy it.

"How are we going to get in?" Tanya asked, "Sure I can fly over but you can't just climb these walls"  
"There is a small wooden hut on the inside with a small hole leading out here" I said, "At least it was when I went here. I made the hole myself in one of the huts that were used as punishment for kids who got bad grades or did something wrong".

"Why do I get the feeling that hut were you second home?" Tanya asked.

"I didn't exactly stay there for as long as the teachers thought I was" I said, "The back of the huts lead directly into the streets. It was no problem for me to remove a couple of planks and run out to the city. The punishments was the best thing at the entire school"

I found the hut quite quickly although I hadn't been there for years.

There was only one problem.

As I removed the loose planks I noticed there was a table on the inside, there was no way for Kate and me to get through.

"Now what?" Tanya asked, "There's no way teenage elves can get through there and I can't remove the table. Can we og home now?"  
"Fine, we need a new plan, are you coming Shara?" I looked around, Kate was gone.

I walked out of the dead end we where in and found her near a crack in a house wall.

"What are you doing? You know that crack won't lead you in to the school" I said.

"Shhhj" she whispered, and then she turned towards the crack again and said with a soft voice "It's okay, you can come out now"

Tanya and I looked at each other; the bird was just as confused as I was.

"Who or what are you talking to?" Tanya asked.

Kate didn't answer; she stuck her hand into the crack but quickly pulled it back.

"He bit me" she told us.

"Who?" Tanya and I asked but Kate just stuck her hand in again and this time she didn't pull it back empty.

She pulled out a small orange fuzzy animal; it looked like an otter or a weasel and was wearing fingerless gloves on his front paws and a couple of goggles on its head.

"I said let go of me you crazy chick!" the animal cried, "I like it in there! It's warm and cosy and I… a-a-atsjooo!"  
To me it didn't look like the ottsel had fount a perfect home.

Water from a broken pipe flowed through the crack and the ottsel's fur was dirty from sewer water.

Judging from the sneezing it had obviously caught a cold as well.

"Don't be silly, its not healthy for you to stay in there" Kate said, "You'll get sick ("He is sick" Tanya remarked) besides people living here might think you are a rat"

The ottsel stopped twitching and looked at Kate for a moment.

"You're the first one who says I'm not a rat" he said sounding confused.

"I know a lot about animals, and you are too big to be a rat" Kate said, "Besides, a rat-tail is naked, yours is covered by beautiful fur. If it weren't for all the mud that is"

The ottsel looked down/up at his tail as if it was the first time he'd seen it, or noticed that it was filthy.

Then he twirled out of Kate's grip and started cleaning it.

Suddenly an idea popped into my head, "I know! You're probably small enough to get into the hut!" I said.

"What hut?" the ottsel asked and stopped cleaning his fur.

I pointed at the hut by the wall and the little guy jumped up.

"That's the crimson school! You were right Shara, this guy's nuts!" he said.

I looked at Kate with an annoyed look but she just laughed.

"I never said he was nuts, just a bit overenthusiastic" she said.

"I know what you mean" the ottsel said and rolled his eyes.

"You don't need to actually enter the school grounds, just help us remove a table in the way and then you can return to your mud hole" I said.

Kate glared at me at the word "mud hole".

"What do I get?" the ottsel asked, "Give me one good reason to get close to that school! I still got reasons to live!"

I was about to ask what reasons a little rodent could have to live but Kate interrupted.

"Please Daxter, if you help us out you can even come home to my hose and leave this little crack" she said.

"Daxter? That thing's got a name?" Tanya asked.

"Watch it bird brain! I've killed mice bigger than you!" the ottsel Kate had called Daxter warned.

"Relax" Kate said, "He told me his name while you were checking out the hole in the hut. That plus some other words I don't want to repeat"

"I've been chased around by those guards more often than Yaccow eats grass!" Daxter said, "They just throw one look at me and then they chase me as if I was a walking meal or something. So why should I give them a reason to kill me?"  
"There's nothing to be afraid of, just crawl through that hole, remove the table and come back out" I said, "No one's going to even see you"

"What do I get?" Daxter asked, "And don't say honour and glory because I know I'll never get that."

Why does everyone in this city need something in return?

"Fine, I'll pay you back later" I said, "I've got some precursor orbs at home that you can have later"  
Daxter thought for a moment but finally he made up his mind, "Fine. I'll remove your table. But that's all okay? So don't come ask me to go in there"

I showed Daxter the hole in the hut and he jumped in easily.

Moments later he came back out.

"The table is out of the way" he said, "Don't forget you owe me big time for this!"

"Fine, just wait here till we get back" I said and crawled through the hole.

Kate and Tanya followed quickly.

The hut was empty, which was a good thing.

Not only could we have been seen but if someone was in here the door would have been closed.

Right now the door was open and we walked straight out to the school yard.

**Miss. Ecofreak: and stop! Now you all have to wait before reading the next (evil laugh)**

**Zakura: I guess the "Dark ottsel" part of your pen-name really fits**

**Miss. Ecofreak: sure. I never really planned for Daxter to make an appearance in this fic, I thought he might just run by once or twice but I never planned it for Kate to actually talk to him... until i wrote this chapter though.**

**Zakura: the question is: will Daxter, who has annoyed so many elves in Jak2, J&D and Jak3, get along with Kate and Cornelius? And will Kate find out who his best friend really is?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: who knows?**

**Zakura: you know Ecofreak.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: That's right! I do! but don't think I'm gonna tell! you'll have to wait and see! (evil laugh)**

**Zakura: STOP LAUGHING!**

**Miss. Ecofreak: (shrinks) sorry...**


	13. Last day of school

**Miss. Ecofreak: I'm back! Did anybody miss me?**

**Zakura: you udated this story like two days ago. or less.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: you never know, someone might have missed me anyway. Ah, I see I got a review**

**Zakura: not even bothering to ask me then?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: (ignores rabbit) Since there's only one since the last time I checked I can easily answer all the reviews I've gotten since... Chapter 10 (What is labeled nr 10 on the meny)**

**Answer to Dark-Mar: Daxter did know Kate and COrnelius in this version, but he doesn't know Kate is his best friend's sister (he doesn't even know Kate's real name) As for your suggestion: maybe. Althouhg Light Within and Growing up in Haven city contains the samecharacters, (only Jak and Daxter appears more in the sequel (espesially Jak)) Cornelius actually appear in all the fics I've got on this page, I really like COrnelius.**

**Zakura: quite ironic since you first planned to kill him in "The dinner Party"**

**Miss. Ecofreak: yeah, But I remembered a friend of mine who hated it whenever I killed a good character in a story and Cornelius was for the moment only a kid, and as he grow older he became more and more important to the story**

**Zakura: But on to this chapter. anything we need to know before we start reading.**

**Miss. Ecofreak: I doubpt, (and if there is something I forgot to explain just tell me). Just remember Daxter does not come with Kate and Cornelius inside the school (he never felt like going on something dangerous without Jak), He's waiting for them outside.**

**Zakura: (reads through chapter) that might be smart of you to do that, seeing who they encounter in this chapter**

**Miss. Ecofreak: shh! Don't spoil!**

**CHAPTER 22**

**LAST DAY OF SCHOOL**

Cornelius

The school yard was empty; I guess all the students were inside doing homework.

"Is this a school? It's nothing here!" Kate said, "What are people supposed to do during breaks?"  
"Most of them are doing homework" I said, "That's the only thing they can do. Fiction books, toys and games are against the rules. That's how life goes at the crimson school"

The school yard was nothing but a large empty space. The hut we came out of was one of many small cabins near the wall.

Next to the huts was a large red building with tons of identical windows on the sides, the intern, where I had spent many boring days with nothing else to do than homework and even more homework.

Right in front of us was the school building, a large crimson red building with the words "Crimson School" written with large black letter which covered most of the front wall.

All houses on the place showed signs of damage from bullets.

The lowest parts of the wall had most of the painting fallen of.

Most affected by this were the small huts, like the one we just came out of.

Some students trying to help their comrades had shoot at the doors to break them.

Unfortunately all the doors (and walls) were bullet-proof.

"No what?" Tanya asked nervous from her spot on my goggles.

"We should find a place to place this" I said and pulled out a small bomb I had "borrowed" from the head quarter, "Too bad we can't get into the building. It's placed in the middle and there it would cause most damage"

"There's no one inside the school building is there?" Kate asked, "If we blow up the school will those in the intern get hurt?"

"When this goes of it will destroy the intern as well" I said, "It's the most powerful bomb I found and we'll need it. If the intern stays they might use it as classrooms till the school is rebuilt. And then we're back where we started"

"You can't do that! Many of these students are innocent children!" Kate complained, "You can't just kill them!"

"Better than becoming the baron's personal life guard. That's a life which usually won't last long anyway" I said,"We have to do this Shara, not only for those who attend to this school, but for the entire city!"

"You sound just like your brother" Kate said low.

"Listen Kate" I said, almost whispering.

Kate looked up at me with a surprised look; I hadn't used her real name for quite some time now.

"If we do this it might prevent more young to fall into Ugly's hands. I don't want them to end up like… him".

"Like Erol?" Kate asked.

"Exactly" I answered, "Let's just find somewhere to put this"

"No wait!" Tanya said.

"What now?" I asked. I was getting sick of all the distractions.

"There's someone in that hut" Tanya said.

Sure enough, as soon as we stopped talking I heard knocking from one of the huts.

"Get me out of here! This is damn unfair and you know it!" a girl's voice said.

Kate walked up to the door and tried to open it.

"It's no use, only the guards have the key" I told her.

"Let me take care of that problem" Tanya said. She took of and flew towards an open window in the school building.

Minutes later she came back with the key in her beak and dropped it into Kate's hands.

"You're not going to open are you?" I asked.

As an answer, Kate put the key in the door and opened it.

Just as I suspected, inside was a girl with blonde hair who seemed to be at the same age as Kate and I.

"Who are you?" she asked, "I've never seen you here before"

"That's right. You haven't" I said and turned to Kate again, "Fine, we've let the girl out of the hut. Can we go now?"  
But Kate just ignored me, again!  
"What were you doing in there?" she asked.

"I was practising my ballet skills" the girl said sarcastic, "Those stupid morons locked me up for talking bad about the baron! But there's no way I'm going to live life by his rules!"

"Cornelius, we just found your long lost twin sister!" Tanya said and giggled.

Kate looked at me with a smile, "Don't even think about it" I whispered.

"You know what? I agree. And I'm sure Cornelius here does too. Actually I know he does" Kate told the girl, "My name is Shara, and this little bird is Tanya. We're from the underground"

The girl's face lit up, "Really? Are you here to blow this place up once and for all?" she asked.

What could I say? From just one piece of information she had figured out exactly what we planned to do.

"That's right" I said, "So if you don't want to get seriously burned you better get out of here as fast as you can"

"No way! I can't leave now! I want to help!" the girl said exited, "I know exactly where that bomb can cause the most damage and have the access pass to get there!"  
"And why should we trust you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Please, I really want to join the undergroung" the girl begged, "My name is Tess, and I promise I'll help you"

"Come on Cornelius, give her a chance" Kate said.

"Shara, you think Phoenix would make a good practise bird for children" I said, "You think the kid can grow and defeat the metal head leader! You even thought once that showing your baby rabbit to a stray dog would be a good idea ("I was four!" Kate interrupted) anyway. I don't mean to offend you or anything, but this is not a good idea!"  
"Do you got a better plan perhaps?" Kate asked.

I hate it when she's right in things like this. I took the bomb out and gave it to Tess.

"You better be right" I said, "It wasn't easy sneaking this one out from under the boss' nose and I'd hate to do it again".

"You can trust me. Just make sure to get out of the school area within fifteen minutes" Tess said and ran towards the school building.

I had no other choice than to trust the girl so we ran towards the hut we got in through.

As we came out Daxter the ottsel were still sulking outside the wall.

Kate grabbed him before he got time to say a word and we all hid behind a nearby building where we sat and waited.

It didn't take long before the gate into the school opened and a bunch of students came running out of them.

Tess must have warned her friends before activating the bomb (who in turn must have told their friends as well); at least this way Kate got her wish come true. Innocents would not get hurt, at least not too many of them.

Tess came last; she was helping some of the youngest students (who seemed to be around five, two years younger than I was when I attended this school)

About three minutes after Tess and the kids were out of sight the entire school area exploded in a large blast of flames.

"Take that baron Praxis!" I said triumphant.

"I really hope they all managed to get out" Kate said.

"I don't! The less crimson guards the better!" Daxter said.

I was actually starting to like the little guy.

**Miss. Ecofreak: see now why I didn't let Daxter come into the school? He's not supposed to meet Tess before Jak2**

**Zakura: aren't we near the start of that game yet?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: sure, but the story is far from over. And some of you might notice that Cornelius' remark on what Kate thinks is a good idea is a bit ironic.**

**Zakura: which part?**

**Miss. Ecofreak:Everyone who has played Jak2 to the finish knows what I'm talking about.**

**Zakura: did she really show her rabbit to a stray dog?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: that explains why she doesn't have a rabbit. And someone who has an eye out for details, in a later chapter Kate claims she didn't meed Cornelius untill she was five, so the story about the rabbit must be something Cornelius has heard from her mother**

**Zakura: or her father**

**Miss. Ecofreak: He's not talking to her father, you should know that. But enough talking, review and remember to log on next time for the next chapter of: Growing Up In Haven City**

**Zakura: that's a lot of large letters in that title.**


	14. Of ottsels and lost crocadogs

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay, this chapter doesn't exactly have a lot of action in it. Most of it is about Daxter telling his story**

**Zakura: And Cornelius being punished, thouhgt you liked him?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: I like to torture the characters, even if I like them or not. **

**Zakura: and if you don't like them?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: characters I dislike are tortured even more**

**Zakura: right. coughErolcouhg**

**Miss. Ecofreak: enough talking, let's get this chapter started**

**CHAPTER 23**

**OF OTTSELS AND LOST PUPPIES**

215, month 12

Kate

Cornelius weren't exactly greeted with open arms after our last action.

Shadow said it was dangerous for both him and innocents to break into the crimson school alone.

So Cornelius was grounded for a month and had to clean up the hideout (not to mention Shadow's house) for six weeks.

In spite of this (and lots of complaints from Cornelius' side) Tess was accepted into the underground.

The first thing she did was throwing a party, leaving poor Cornelius to clean up the mess all by himself.

I had brought Daxter home to my aunt where I had been living since my parents died, and nurtured him back to health.

It seemed like all he needed was a change of environment and he recovered quite quickly.

Now, three months later we had a more or less quiet period in the underground (according to Cornelius it was because the guards were to busy rebuilding the crimson school, but unfortunately for them, they were quite often "delayed")

I had spent most of my time at home with Daxter, who turned out to be a good conversation partner, according to Aunt Isabelle his biggest handicap was to shut up.

I asked him quite often if he had any other friends around in the city but as soon as I mentioned it he changed the subject.

"How about you?" he asked one day, "How did you end up with that Cornelius guy? Not to mention that bloody bird of his"

"Cornelius and I are old friends" I told him, "We've known each other since I was five and he was four. We met at a party actually. My uncle had invited us along with my cousin and her two cousins, Cornelius and his big brother"

I stopped there. I did not want to talk about the dinner party.

"Something wrong?" Daxter asked.

_Come on, you keep asking him hard questions_ a voice in my head said.

"My uncle died that night" I said, "It was a fire.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Daxter said.

"How about your friends?" I asked, "You must have had somebody?"  
Daxter looked away, for a moment I thought he would change the subject again but then he started talking again.

"My only friend was taken by the crimson guards" he said shortly.

"Is that why you hate them so much?" I asked.

"That, plus the fact that they always shoot at me. But one they I'll save him! And they will wish they never messed with Daxter the orange lightning!" the ottsel said shaking his fist in the air.  
I giggled, the little guy was optimistic, though I was unsure that he could safe his friend all by himself, if his friend was still alive.

"What had your friend done to get taken away?" I asked.

"That's the worst part! He hadn't done anything!" Daxter said.

"Not even spoken a bad word about the baron? I've heard of people who actually get arrested for that" I said.

"Jak never says a bad word of anyone!" Daxter yelled, "Actually, he never speaks nicely about anyone either"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"For as long as I've known him I've never heard him say a word" Daxter told me, "It was annoying at first, since I was never sure what he wanted. But we figured out other ways of understanding each other".

"Your friend's name is Jak isn't it?" I asked and the ottsel nodded, "Funny, I know a kid with that name who doesn't talk much either. But he's just thee years old"

"Funny coincidence" Daxter said, "Except for the age. My buddy is twenty-one by now; we're at the same age. I know I look tiny" He said as he saw my puzzled look, "But I haven't always been a fuzzy rodent. I was changed when I fell into a hole of dark eco a couple of years ago"

"Isn't that dangerous? I've heard even a small dose of Dark Eco can be deadly" I asked.

"I was lucky I guess" Daxter answered, "Can we change the subject now? Or maybe you have an important mission you need to get to?"  
Funny he should say that, as soon as the ottsel shut his mouth my communicator started ringing.

It was a short message from Cornelius on it; it said "HQ, now"

"I have to go. Can you stay her alone?" I asked, "If you ever need anything just ask my aunt"  
"I'll manage, I've been on my own the last two years as well" Daxter answered.

I smiled at him before I ran out the door.

Aunt Isabelle's house laid a long way form the hideout; luckily I had recently gotten a small fast zoomer for my birthday.

It took ten minutes to reach HQ.

When I came in, Tess, Cornelius and Shadow were waiting.

"What took you so long?" Cornelius asked.

"Stop complaining, not everyone in this organisation are race-maniacs" I said.

Cornelius glared at me; race-maniac was one of his nicknames on Erol.

"So, what's the problem?" I asked.

"Not much really. It's just that little Jak's crocadog is missing. Kor tried to catch him earlier but you know what that dog feels about him" Shadow said;"Besides he's way to old for chasing a small puppy through the city"

"That dog hates everyone, except you and the kid" Cornelius said, "And since little Mar junior here can't go out without being treated worse that that ottsel you found earlier you are the only one who can catch him"

"Where is Jak anyway?" I asked.

"He's at my house, crying poor thing" Shadow said, "I had to lock the door so he wouldn't go out and look for the dog"

"Someone should be with him, or he might find other ways out" I said, "I'll look for the dog. But meanwhile you should keep an eye on Jak. Is anyone else looking for Crocket now?"

"I asked Torn to keep his eyes opened" Tess said, "He's patrolling the area where Crocket was last seen. But if the other guards see him first… you'd better find him quick"

"She'd better find him before Torn as well" Cornelius answered, "Who knows what Torn might do?" he still didn't trust Torn, not even after Shadow made him second in command.

Shadow told me where Crocket was last seen and Cornelius and I (on each our zoomer this time) went out to look.

**Miss. Ecofreak: ooh, exiting. and let's just hope the kid does not get out of Shadow's house**

**Zakura: Houston we've got a problem.**


	15. The lost kid

**Miss. Ecofreak: would you consider it hard if you were the leader of a crimson guard patrol and at the same time looking for a kid and a crocadog and make sure the other guards don't find them first?**

**Zakura: Torn's got his hands full, that's for sure.**

**CHAPTER 24**

**THE LOST KID**

Torn

It was not easy keeping an eye out for the crocadog and at the same time, making sure nobody else in my patrol saw him first.

The baron was very hard on stray dogs and had ordered every dog running around on the streets killed.

And as if the situation wasn't bad enough, later that day I got a message saying the kid had managed to get out of Shadow's house and was probably looking for his dog.

If the other guards spotted him it would be a disaster!  
Not that there were many guards patrolling right now, actually, in this section there was only three.

"This is boring!" a young man named Jim said, "Nothing ever happens when I'm patrolling. Besides, I hate the smell of this part of the city"

I laughed, couldn't help it, "You hate the smell of every part of the city" I said, "But if you want excitement I can get you transferred to the wasteland-patrols"

"I'm not that desperate, this city's ok" Jim said quickly.

_And let's hope it stays that way_ I though for myself, as I lead the small group down the streets.

The slums had been falling apart the last years since the baron took over, since the people there were too poor to pay their bills he refused to repair the streets so the roads were full of holes.

The last member of the patrol was an older guard named Bart.

He was mostly silent, the only thing he cared about for the moment was to do his job and get back to his family.

Jim on the other hand…

"I'm hungry"

… Was far from silent.

"Do you think anyone would notice if we ran out to grab some snacks? Nothing ever happens here anyway"

"If we away something might happen while we're gone" Bart snarled, "The shift is over in half an our, you'll live until then"

Jim started staggering and hat to lean against the wall, "I must eat something" he said weakly, "its getting cold. I see a long tunnel".

"Will you knock it of?" I asked. That guy was getting on my nerves.

"Just a mouthful. I need food, and I'm talking real food, not some poor slum-food" Jim said, "Please?"  
"Why the hell did you sign of for being a crimson guard?" I asked, "You never do anything!"

"What am I supposed to do? I was told being a crimson guard was much more fun! Fighting dangerous criminals, stop the rebellions threatening this city!" Jim said.

"Stop that enormous mouth of yours" I said, "The less you complain the sooner we can go"¨

Jim muttered something which sounded a lot like "Not fair". He didn't know what that phrase meant.

Jim had grown up in the richer parts of the city. His family were loyal to the baron and he was one of the first and youngest who attended to crimson school.

Though I guessed it must have been his parents who sent him there.

I wondered whether Jim ever thought about the people living in the slums, where he spent most of his working days.

The streets had not been asphalted in 15 years and the people were lucky if they got three meals a day, Jim ate five meals, during patrol.

"Hey! Stop that dog!"

I turned around quickly, the crocadog came running with a piece of meat in his jaw and followed by an angry salesman.

"Finally. Some action!" Jims said, reaching out for his gun.

"Wait! I'll handle this" I said.

"No way! I've been waiting for his since I started! Come on!" Jim said sounding annoyed.

"What's your problem? It's just a stupid mutt" Bart said, I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to Jim.

"You were hungry weren't you? Why don't you go get a snack then I'll take care of the crocadog" I said.

"Wow! You really mean that?" Jim said, as if I was his father who had just promised him a trip to an amusement park.

Before I even got to answer he (who was "dying" only seconds ago) ran away towards the stadium section.

"What was that all about?" Bart asked.

"I am sick of his complains. Besides I don't trust his ability to tackle pests" I said, "Just keep on patrolling. I've got a dog to catch.

I ran for the dog as Bart walked in another direction.

Although I was a bit scared he would run into the kid while I was looking for Crocket.

Finally I managed to trap the dog in a corner.

He was growling at me, still with the stolen meat in his mouth.

"Don't worry you crazy mutt. I'm just going to take you home" I said as calm as I could.

Crocket didn't understand a word I said of course. He just kept growling and threatened to bite my arm of.

What now? I've never liked to kill stray dogs but this was a pet!

I tried to get closer to the dog but every time I moved he snapped after me.

There was only one thing to do, I took up my communicator and called the only person (except little Jak) who was able to handle Crocket.

Minutes later Shara appeared, closely followed by Cornelius.

"It's a miracle, Torn found him and the dog's still alive" Cornelius said, "Or is the little dog to scary for a hardened crimson guard?"

Shara walked up to the dog, "There you are you little troublemaker" she said, "You've had your fun now, time to go home"

Crocked barked happily, he let go of the stolen meat and ran towards Shara.

"What's with you and that dog?" I asked, "He refuse to let anyone else touch him"

"I guess I'm just good with animals" Shara said **(A/N: sounds familiar to you?)** "Thanks for finding him. Who knows what Jak would have done if we lost him"

"No problem. I have to get going" I said, "I fear with the kid on the run our problems have hardly started"

"Why don't you just take your guard friends and go home and leave the kid to us?" Cornelius asked, "I don't mean to be rude… or maybe I dot. I don't want a bunch of crimson guards looking for him"

"I am one crimson guard, not a bunch" I said, "And you know I won't hurt the kid not all crimson guards are evil you know"

"So you mean I'm going to trust every guard I see?" Cornelius asked angry.

"Relax Cornelius. Why don't you and I go look for the kid, instead of arguing with Torn?" Shara said while she was still holding the dog in a firm grip.

Shara put Crocked in a small cage she had placed on her zoomer and started the engine.

Cornelius started his zoomer too and flew up to the high hover zone.

"You'd better hope your friends won't find the kid before we do" I said to me, "Because I'll hold you responsible"

After this threat he flew of so his bird actually fell of the zoomer, Shara grabbed the sparrowflut and said to me: "Don't mind him. I'm sure he'll learn one day", then she followed Cornelius.

The boy was right in one thing. I had to make sure Bart or Jim (if he actually came back) didn't found the kid first or he would be done for.

I found Bart quite quickly.

"There you are. Did you get the dog?" he asked.

"Sorry, it ran of. But maybe we're lucky and someone else find it" I said.

"I knew I should have gone for it myself" Bart said, "The city is overrun by strays. Being soft won't help, what if that dog hurt anyone? Crocadogs can be very aggressive"

_You don't have to tell me_ I thought.

Saying the city was overrun by stray dogs was an extreme exaggeration, a few dogs were abandoned in the slums when its owners could no longer care for it but apart from that you rarely saw stray dogs in Haven City.

Time to find the kid. I really hoped Cornelius and Shara or anyone else in the underground found him first.

Bart was loyal to the baron and there was no way he would let Mar's heir get away.

**Zakura: what will happen next? Will Torn manage to find little-Jak before Bart finds him?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: I don't know... chapter 25 is about Kate and Cornelius**

**Zakura: how bout chapter 26?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: non-existing. I've got writers block**

**Zakura: pity. Well, let's just hope Ecofreak mangages to write chapter 26 and you'll get nr 27 right afterwards. cause that's finished right?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: sure, and we still got chapter 25 to look forward to.**

**remember to send in a review and I'll upload chapter 25, Renegade as soon as I can. **

**Zakura: renegade?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: Title will be explained later.**


	16. Renegade

**Zakura: nobody can blame you for updating to slowly**

**Miss. Ecofreak: except if you HAVE to read one chapter each second, which I doupt anyone does. **

**Zakura: so... whats the meaning of this title? What the hell does Renegade have to do with Growing up in Haven City?**

**Miss. Ecofreak: with the main story: nothing at all. The title renegade symbolises the beginning of another story which starts right after this chapter.**

**I do realise that in some contries that does not make sense, but in Europe (more spesific Norway) Jak2 (second best game in the world) is called Jak2 renegade. This chapter marks the beginning of the game where Daxter runs of to rescue Jak.**

**Jak still does not appear in the story, if you want to see how the rescue mission went you'll have to turn on your ps2 (or a friends ps2 for all I care)**

**This chapter however, tells of ... read it!**

**CHAPTER 25**

**RENEGADE**

Kate

Having Crocket tied up at the back of my zoomer was not easy.

He kept moving around in the cage so much the ropes which held the cage to the zoomer loosened.

"Perhaps we should just walk? You brought his leach didn't you?" Cornelius asked as I stopped for the fifth time.

"Good idea. It probably would be easier to find the kid when we're walking as well" I said, taking Crocket out of his cage.

But as soon as I put him down Crocket started growling again, he was looking at some garbage bags.

"What's his problem?" Cornelius asked while he moved both our zoomers out of the streets to park them.

"He probably smells rats or something" I said.

Suddenly Crocket ran forward, I hadn't managed to put his leach on yet.

He jumped into the garbage bags and out of it Daxter the ottsel jumped.

"Daxter? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Does it matter? Just get that bloody dog away from me!" Daxter cried and jumped up at my shoulder to get away from the dog.

"You'd be safer if you stayed at home" Cornelius said, "This is no picnic"

I was about to ask Daxter what he was doing out here then it crossed my mind.

"I know what this is about" I said, "You're looking for Jak aren't you?"

"Don't everyone?" Cornelius asked.

"Not that Jak, another Jak" I answered, "Daxter as a friend who got captured by the crimson guards"

"Two years ago" Daxter said, he didn't care to change the subject this time, it seemed like it was easier to talk about it now that he'd already told me, "And for no reason! What's wrong with this city when you can't even stand around looking lost and confused without being arrested?"  
"Baron Praxis is what's wrong with this city" Cornelius answered, "Everyone should know. Unfortunately if your friend was taken two years ago the chances for finding him alive are slim. I'm sorry to say this, but those who end up in the baron's prison cells never stay for long, and I don't mean they are released"

"I know he's alive!" Daxter yelled, "Don't ask me how but I know! And I'm the only one who can save him!"

"Poor guy" Tanya said, "If you're his only hope he was as good as dead at the day of his capture"

Before I got time to stop him, Daxter jumped of my shoulder and tried to grab the bird, which only ended in him falling head first down at the asphalt.

I picked up Crocket so he wouldn't attack while Cornelius helped Daxter to stand up.  
"Don't talk like that!" the ottsel said to Tanya, "Jak and I have been through more dangers than you have feathers on your body, so shut the hell up!"  
After living with him for four months "shut up" was two words I never thought I'd hear from Daxter's mouth, since it seemed like he never learned to do it himself.

"Stop fighting both of you!" Cornelius said, "You know? I think we should help this guy"

"What? Saving a total stranger? What's gotten into you?" Tanya asked as she sat down on Cornelius' goggles again.

"We don't have time for this! The kid is still on the loose!" I said, I didn't want to let Daxter down but little-Jak was my brother for the precursor's sake!

"Kid-Jak's got the whole underground looking for him. Besides I doubt he's in half as much trouble as one who's spend two years in prison" Cornelius said, he looked down at Daxter again, "And the only hope he's got is a tiny ottsel, no offence meant" he added quickly.

"So you will actually help me?" Daxter asked sounding both happy and surprised at once, "I didn't think anyone in this city knew what help meant"

"I still owe you after helping us in to the crimson school" Cornelius asked, "Although I'm the only one who seems to notice you saved a lot of lives back then"

"Well you know saving people is my hobby" Daxter said.

"You're nuts, both of you" Tanya said, "Two years and you think that Jak-guy is still alive? But if he is count me in"

"It seems I've been defeated" I said, "I'll help. As long as it doesn't involve blowing up the entire fortress" I added while looking at Cornelius who was smirking.

"I didn't think of that, but it's not a bad idea" he said, "But that'll have to wait. Blowing up the fortress now will only kill the prisoner we're trying to save here. But I've got contacts"

He took out his communicator and walked away from the road so the people passing by couldn't hear what he was saying.

After a couple of minutes he came back.

"Help is on the way" he said.

"Who were you calling?" Tanya asked.

"Just a relative of mine" Cornelius answered, "Unfortunately mentioned relative was to busy to come but she said she would send someone to help. Luckily not all of my family is as crazy as Erol".

About ten minutes later a red crimson guard-zoomer came flying and stopped right in front of us.

The driver was a girl at my age; although her face was covered by greyish blue tattoos I knew her well.

"Hello Corny, who would know I would meet you in a dump like this" she said smiling.

"Nice to see you too Tetra" Cornelius said, "Did you get it?"  
"Special delivery from the baron's daughter" Tetra said throwing a security pass to Cornelius, "Just don't tell old Cedrik we took it, we like, forgot to ask first"

She put up her typical good-girl-look, "Excuse me Cedrik? Could we borrow a security pass so our friends can break into the fortress and rescue some lonely guy?"  
She looked down at Daxter who was still staring at Tanya, "Are you the hero in this chapter? Cornelius mentioned you were small but not that small"

"I might be small but I've got a big heart" Daxter said, "Not to mention I've got great powers. In the old times I would go out in the forbidden jungle and fight snakes, vicious lurkers and large monster-plants!"

"Really?" Tetra said, she did not sound very impressed, "In what hole did you find this moron?" she whispered to me.

After going through the plan we went to the baron's fortress, the second most secure building in the city (beaten only by the palace)

The baron's prisons where in this building and rumours said it held large ammo dumps as well.

"Can't we just blow it up just a little bit?" Cornelius asked.

"For the last time Cornelius, there are more innocents in here than you can count" I said, "Underground agents and people who have only said some bad words about the baron are in here just waiting to be rescued"

"Or to die" Tanya remarked.

I tied Crocket to my zoomer, "Sorry buddy, you'll have to stay here" I said to him, "I'll call Shadow so he'll come pick you up".

"Getting in here is suicide" Tetra said, "Then again if it was easy it wouldn't be any fun would it?"

Cornelius walked up to the door with the security passed.

"Access granted" the computer announced and the large metal door opened.

We walked in, right inside the door stood a large red security tanks.

"That tanks will be activated if you try to get in there" Tetra said pointing at a passage to the left, "If there really is an ammo dump in this fortress it must be in there. But we're going this way"

She led us up some small stairs and trough another door.

"What makes me think there's something just as deadly in here?" Daxter asked, he was sitting at my shoulder again.

"I can assure you it does" Tetra said, though that didn't make Daxter feel more comfortable.

Tetra looked around a corner.  
"There are six guards in there, elite troop" she said.

"Just six? Childs play" Cornelius said and pulled out his gun, he jumped around the corner and shot seven shots.

"All clear" he said afterwards, "Missed only once, that was unexpected", he checked his gun, "Must be something wrong with the aiming"

As we continued walking I tried not to look at the bodies of the five guards on the floor, one of them had fallen down into a hole.

"Not bad" Daxter said.

"Thanks, but we're not there yet" Cornelius said while picking up more ammo from the dead guards, "This might be useful later, and I doubt these guys will need it"

"Cornelius please" I said as I was about to throw up.

"Just ignore them, they were all evil anyway" Tetra said, I notices she wasn't looking at the guards either, she didn't seem totally convinced about killing these guys herself.

The next passage was blocked by a force field.

"We have to press those buttons to open" Tetra said pointing at several large buttons on the floor.

"No problem" Daxter said, he jumped of my shoulder and jumped up on each button.

As soon as he had pressed the last one the force field disappeared and we could enter the next room.

Our next challenge was several laser sensors, if we were his by those the security cannons would shoot us before we managed to get away.

Daxter and Tanya had the advantage of being small and easily passed the sensors.

Tetra and I managed quite well too.

Cornelius came last, but the last sensor hit his foot and the canon burned the steal toe on his left boot.

"Hey! That one weren't cheap! He complained.

"Be glad that wasn't your head" Tanya said.

As we walked on the floor seemed to disappear in front of us.

There was a hollow in the ground, and between us and the next room there was only this hollow and a wall.

There was no way we could go through the wall, but passing the hollow didn't look easy either.

"What is this? Some lame platform game?" Cornelius asked. **(A/n: Lame? I don't think so)**

"It probably wouldn't be a problem if we had a jet board" Tetra said,"Didn't your brother have one of those once?" she asked Cornelius.

"He did but do you think he would lend it to me?" Cornelius asked. "I guess we just have to try to pass it, and try not to fall into the hollow. The way up is steep"

"I can do it" Daxter said, he slid down into the hollow, grabbed the edge and moved sideways into the next room.

"That wasn't so hard" he said giggling.  
"Don't get to cocky" Tetra said, just as a voice behind us said "Freeze!"

Cornelius, Tetra, Tanya and I turned around at the same time (Tanya had to turn twice because she forgot she was on Cornelius' head)

At least ten crimson guards were standing behind us, all with gun facing us.

I heard Daxter ran away on the other side of the room, he was not much help; I just hoped he managed to save his friend.

"Trespassers eyh? Well this is where your journey ends guys" the troop leader said and smirked, "The baron is going to give me a nice bonus for this".

**Miss. Ecofreak: to see how Daxter saved Jak: play Jak2, To see if Kate, Tetra, Cornelius and Tanya gets out of trouble... read chapter 27, whenever that is uploaded (damn writers block)**

**Zakura: To see if Torn (or any other underground agent) find the kid, read chapter 26 which is even harder to upload than 27 seeing it is unfinished.**

**Miss. Ecofreak:I will update this story as soon as I can, I promise! meanwhile, review (suggestions on what might happen to Torn are most welcome)**


	17. Crimson rebel

**Miss.Ecofreak: take that stupid writers block!**

**Zakura: it didn't take that long**

**Miss.Ecofreak: oh so that's what you think? But maybe you will change your mind if I told you I wrote chapter 25 before I even uploaded chapter one?**

**Zakura: O.o. So it did take time to write this.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: Sure, now to the reviews. (reads review) It's good someone like my story. **

**As for Dark Mar's comment... Cornelius calls Praxis' Ugly because he hates him, it has nothing to do with Dork2 (besides, Jak is the one who says Ugly. the Kg calls him Fatty) **

**CHAPTER 26**

**THE CRIMSON REBEL**

Torn

I looked at my watch.

If the kid wasn't found soon my shift would be over, and we could no longer ensure that the crimson guards didn't find the kid first.

"Is anything wrong?" Bart asked.

"Jim has been gone for quite some time now" I said, "How long can it take to get something to eat?"  
"Knowing Jim he's probably checked in at a hotel and fallen asleep" Bart said, "That kid should never have become a crimson guard"

To be honest, I actually hoped Jim wouldn't come back, making sure Bart didn't find the kid was one thing, when they were two it was even harder.

But I couldn't let Bart know that.

"I hope we don't get teamed up with him again" I said.

"I don't know, he's right in one thing" Bart said, "We don't have a lot to do out here. The baron ordered us to look for some kid, I don't really see why. What does he need a little boy for?"

"I don't know" I lied, I knew exactly why the baron wanted little Jak to be found.

"He's promised a lot for the one who finds him though" Bart said, "I wouldn't mind some extra eco, the eco bill won't be cheap this month, with my oldest son always sitting on his computer, that's all he does when he's not in school"

"Kids need some fun" I said, "its not exactly fun going to crimson school, don't you agree?"

"Never been there myself" Bart said, "I joined the guards before the school was founded, shortly after the baron took over"

_Lucky pig_ I thought for myself.

"What would you do if you found the kid?" Bart asked.

"I don't know" I said, _not give him to the baron that's for sure_ I thought.

"Knowing Jim he might use the reward to do an expedition to the metal head nest" Bart said, "I almost hope he does, and then we'll get rid of him for good"

It wasn't the first time I got shocked by the older crimson guards' carelessness.

I hoped I would never turn out like that. Then again I didn't plan on staying for much longer, undercover or not, I was starting to get seriously sick of being a KG**. (Fine, that doesn't make sense since I write crimson guard with C instead of K, but I've gotten used to it and don't care to change)**

We didn't say anything for a while.

The city was quiet, I hoped the kid was safe, maybe he already had been found for all I know.

Minutes later I found out where the kid was, unfortunately Bart did too.

The kid ran out from a back alley right in front of us, chasing a small animal he had found (perhaps he wanted to keep it as a playmate for his dog).

"Hey! Isn't that the kid the baron asked us to look for?" Bart asked.

The kid turned around as he heard Bart's voice, when he saw the crimson guard uniforms I could see he was scared.

"I don't know, it doesn't look like him to me" I said, and tried my best to get Bart of the hook, it didn't work.

"Don't be silly, it has to be him!" Bart said, "Hi there kid, want to come with us for a while?"  
But little Jak was not stupid, he turned his heals and ran, away from us.

"Stop him!" Bart shouted (forgetting that I was the leader) and ran after the kid.

I grabbed my communicator and called Kor (didn't mind calling Cornelius because he would only blame me anyway), telling him the kid was found.

I didn't have time to talk for long; I had to make sure Bart didn't get the kid.

For the moment little Jak had a head start but with his small legs Bart would easily outrun him.

I followed them as fast as I could, finally I could benefit from my year long training at the crimson school. I had more stamina than Bart.

"Where were you?" Bart asked as I ran up next to him.  
"I had to call HQ" I said, almost correct, wrong HQ though.

"Good, cause this kid's got endurance" Bart said, he was already sounding tired.

The kid however, at an age of three he had lots of energy.

One thing he didn't have was any idea where he was running, so he ran straight into a dead end with his only way out blocked by me and Bart.

"Come on kid, we won't hurt you" Bart said.

"Perhaps we should just leave him here. Can't you see he's scared?" I said.

"No way, this is my big chance to finally get that promotion!" Bart said, "It's easy for you if you mess things up, you don't have a family to care for"

"But this kid probably has a family too" I said.

"Not from what I've heard" Bart said, "I heard he's an orphan who's been causing problems around the area. We'll be doing him a favour if we bring him in so the baron can find a home for him"  
_Sure, six feet under_ I thought.

What was I going to do? I wished Kor could show up soon, or anyone else from the underground.

But there was only me, I was the only one who could save the kid.

I knew I had two choices: let the kid die, or loose my cover as a loyal crimson guard.

"Sorry Bart, but I can't let you have this kid" I said.

"What's gotten into you? You know I would share the reward!" Bart said.

"I don't want any reward. This kid is not your average orphan. His life is in danger and no crimson guard is to touch him" I said.

"No crimson…? Hey! You're with the underground aren't you?" Bart said.

I ran up to the kid and grabbed his hand; he must have recognised me (despite of the uniform) because he quickly hid behind my back.

"Don't think your betrayal will go unnoticed Torn, you may have graduated from KG-school but I've been in the guard longer than anyone!" Bart threatened, he pulled out his communicator, "And I know when to call for reinforcement."

"Drop that com this instant!" a voice said, female, and very familiar.

I turned to see where the voice came from, so did Bart and Jak.

A woman with a gun stood by the entrance to the alley, and not just any woman.

"Ashelin?" I asked in surprise.

"The baron's daughter? What are you doing here?" Bart asked, still with the communicator in his hand.

"That's none of your business. Now drop the com or I'll be forced to shoot" Ashelin said.

This didn't make any sense.

Ashelin was baron Praxis' daughter, why would she save me?  
Bart dropped his communicator on the ground.

"I don't know what's going on here but this man is trying to stop me from doing my duty" Bart said, "He's a traitor, he works for the underground!"

"Sure, and you need to inform the baron right?" Ashelin said, "Well don't mind that. He's busy with other business right now, so is the commander. You however, don't you have anything more important to do than to chase helpless children around?"

"But he's… he looks like… the baron said…" it didn't seem to matter to Bart that Ashelin was younger than him. No wonder really, since Ashelin was the closest thing to what the city had to call a princess, daughter of baron Praxis.

"What? That kid doesn't look like the little orphan the baron looks for if you ask me" Ashelin said.

Even though I said the exact same thing only minutes ago Bart didn't dare to disagree.

"Of course not. Silly me" He said stammering, "But what about Torn? He… well… he…"

"I'll deal with that, you just continue patrolling" Ashelin said, she looked from Bart to me, then back to Bart again, "Wasn't there supposed to be three of you? Where's Jim?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. He ran of somewhere. I'll find him" Bart said. He left the alley and jumped on a nearby KG-zoomer. **(Er… he can take that since he is a kg…)**

As soon as Bart had disappeared around the corner Ashelin turned to me again.

"So… what am I supposed to do with you?" she asked, pointing her gun at me.

I tried to stay calm and pushed the kid behind my back again (he had come out when Ashelin appeared)

But to my big surprise, Ashelin laughed and put her gun away.

"Relax Torn, I won't harm the kid" she said.

"You… you know my name?" I asked, _stupid question! You've met her before!_ I thought.. but then again, that was years ago.

"Although one brief meeting usually isn't enough to call you an old friend I know you" Ashelin said, "I've heard so much about you since we first met, my cousin told me about your little betrayal"

"And you don't mind?" I asked.

"Of course not, although my cousin hardly believes you actually left the guard. I guess I've got proof now" she said.

_Hold on, her cousin?_

"That cousin you talk of… it can't be Cornelius Elfin?" I asked.

"The one and only" Ashelin answered, "Though he rarely admits it. If it's one thing he hates more than being Erol's brother it is being baron Praxis nephew. But to more serious things, that Bart is sure to inform the HQ about your betrayal, I think it's time to quit your job officially"

"I don't mind, but what about you? He saw you protecting me" I said.

"As if he would ever talk bad about the baron's daughter, he won't tell" Ashelin said, "But you better get back to the hideout, as for the kid…"

She was interrupted by the roar of a zoomer.

Kor walked out of it.

"I came as fast as I could" he said. He was panting hard although he must have ridden the zoomer all the way, "Is he okay?"

The kid ran out from his hideout and straight into the old man's hands.

"Little Jak is fine, I think you'd better take him back to Shadow's house. The guards will probably be looking for Torn soon and it would be wiser if the kid wasn't with him" Ashelin said.

"Don't worry. I'll take him home" Kor said.

"Fine, then I guess my work here is done" Ashelin said and walked back to her own zoomer, "Do you want a ride back to the hideout?" she asked me.

I didn't need to be asked twice, after this day I was actually looking forward to do paperwork all day.

**Miss.Ecofreak: hmm, maybe this could have been made better. but you don't have to take my word for it. review and tell me what you think and even if it do suck, read the next chapter when it's uploaded.**

**Zakura: possibly tomorow or the day after that**

**Miss.Ecofreak: if not, rest assured it will come, unless my computer blows up and I have to write it all over again. But it's like Phil Collins said in a cd I've got: "against all odds", beautiful song:)**


	18. Bad news for Cornelius

**Miss.Ecofreak: here comes another chapter I've been really looking forward to update!**

**Zakura: why? So you can torture the Elfin-brothers (Erol and Cornelius) some more?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no, It's because all since Cornelius ran away from home I wanted to put those two together in the same room to have them talk about their feelings for eachother**

**Zakura: feelins like: anger, hate, irritation**

**Miss.Ecofreak: yepp, that kind of feelings. But as I wrote this chapter I almost felt like crying, it ended up beeing rather sad**

**Zakura: there are quite a lot of sad parts in this story, half of Kate's family dies, she has to run away from her father and she almost lost her brother too**

**Miss.Ecofreak: sure, but those things are all about Kate, time to give Cornelius some bad news as well.**

**CHAPTER 27**

**BAD NEWS FOR CORNELIUS**

Cornelius

The guard led us down to the lowest prison cells.

"You can just wait here" he said, "The commander is busy right now but as soon as he's finished with whatever he's doing he promised to come see you"

"Tell him to take his time, we're not in a hurry" I said, trying to ignore the screaming from above.

"A tough one eyh?" the guard said, "Sure, the commander told me you would react like that"

I looked at him in surprise, "How does he…?" I didn't need to finish the question, the commander just came in.

"Oh, but I know you Cornelius" he said with an evil smirk, "After all, I taught you everything you know about being tough".

"Erol" I snarled.

"Great, family reunion" Tetra said, "You two probably got a lot to talk about so why don't we just leave you alone?"

"You're not going anywhere traitor! Just wait till the baron finds out you let those scumbags into the fortress" Erol said to her, "He does not go easy on spies"

Tetra just stared in the ground, she wasn't used to being yelled at, but I was.

"What moron made you commander?" I asked, "I guess this is a moment for rejoice, it certainly must mean the baron's rule will be over soon"

"You laugh, but don't forget I was the best student in my class" Erol said, "At least, the second best"

Surely this had to mean the end of the world, Erol admitted he was number two? There had to be something behind this.

"You could have made a great crimson guard do you know that?" Erol asked.

"Sorry, I'm not crazy enough" I said.

"What is your problem? Are those morons more important to you than your own family?" Erol asked looking towards Kate and Tetra, and Tanya who was still on my head, "Do you want to waste all your time playing around with your stupid pet and this traitor? And who the hell are you?"

Kate looked away; she didn't want Erol to figure out who she really was, although she had changed a lot since he saw her last.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" he asked, "Because I really didn't think you had such a bad taste"

"At least I have friends" I said.

"Even friends could be enemies" Erol said, repeating what I had heard like a thousand times from the baron's speakers, "They come and go, but your family always stays"

"And surely family are never enemies" I said sarcastically.

"Don't talk to him Cornelius, perhaps foolishness is infectious" Tanya said.

"Watch your beak or I'll chop it of!" Erol threatened.

"Why don't you try?" Tanya asked.

Erol ignored her and spoke to me again, "You don't have to join the crimson guards to help us" he said, "At least not officially. You can start by telling me what you are doing in here. I know you never break into somewhere without a reason"

"We thought we might come visit you" I said with a grin, "And it would be nice to meet the "glorious" baron as well"

"Be careful what you wish for, it might come true" Erol said, "Perhaps you've come to rescue someone? Another underground agent?"

"Nope, we only wanted to see you" I said casually.

"These guys aren't talking. Why don't we just kill them and be done with it?" the troop leader said.

"Shut up! Go see if there are more of them instead" Erol commanded.

The guard obeyed instantly and left.

"Do you see how they all obey me?" Erol asked me, "Do the underground agents do that to you as well?"

I didn't answer, I wanted to say yes but that would be a lie and a useless one as well.

"I didn't think so. The underground never appreciates good talents" Erol said, "Not like in the crimson guard; you could come in the elite troop in no time"

"Who said the underground never appreciated me?" I asked, "We don't use grading and stuff in UG. We just do whatever we want and as a reward we get fame and fortune when the baron is gone."

A lie of course, I had long since been regarded as the black sheep in the underground.

But that didn't mean I felt like switching sides.

Erol decided to try another tactic.

"Do you ever think about our mother when you're out doing mischief Cornelius?" he asked, "You really hurt her when you ran away"  
I didn't have an answer to that, mom had always been so nice to me, and I didn't want to see her cry, I just…

"That's what I thought" Erol said, "And when I told her you had joined the underground she was completely devastated. I know what you thought, that they would hardly care because they got me right? Well guess what, they weren't happy at all! Even dad almost cried. They started fighting a lot and mom even blamed dad for your departure! Do you have any idea how it was being between all this?"

I turned away; both Kate and Tetra looked at me with worried looks.

"The underground always brags on that they are the good guys in this city" Erol said, "But do they consider causing a divorce a good idea?"

"They didn't?" I said shocked.

"Yes they did! And it's your fault do you know that?" Erol yelled, "I was sent back and forth between them all the time, but no matter where I was I was always ignored! They still miss each other you know, and they miss you, but whenever they try to make out they always end up fighting, over you"

I didn't know what to say, eight years earlier I might say my dad deserved a divorce, but I never thought they would actually do it.

"It's okay Cornelius" Kate whispered.

How could it? I wanted to ask her, but the words didn't come out.

"What happened to mr. tough guy?" Erol asked, "I'll leave you to think about it. But rest assured I will be back"

And then he left, shutting the door after him.

We were trapped, breaking in to the prison was one thing, getting out was even harder.

Not that it mattered, I could move my feet anyway.

Kate put her hand on my shoulder, "I know what you're going trough" she said, "You're not alone".

"My fault, that's what he said" I whispered, "How can you possibly know how I feel?"

"My parents are divorced too you know!" she said, "And it was me they were fighting over"

She gave Tanya a look before she continued; the bird got the hint and flew over to Tetra.

"I don't think I've ever told you about the night mom and I escaped" she told, "I came home from school that day and hear them fighting. My dad wanted me to join the crimson school, but my mother refused. I could hardly believe what I heard, of course I feared I might had to go to the Kg-School, but I leaving dad like that, who taught me so much, it was as if I would never be happy again"

"Your mother found another man" I said, "She was happy, my mother has no one"  
"So you think seeing your mother with another man is easy is that so?" Kate asked, "I know Jake had been a good father the last few years, but before he came, before the baron. It had been me, my mom, and my father, my real father. How I wished I could go back to that time"

"Me too" I said, "Do you ever think about how life would have been without Praxis?"

"My parents would still be together" Kate said, "Mom would still be alive, and my uncle too"

"Erol and I could have become good friends" I said, "I know this might sound strange coming from me but… he would have been a good guy if it weren't for that bloody baron"

"I wouldn't have to go to that damn school" Tetra said from behind us, "Sorry, I listened to the last part of your conversation. But I couldn't help it, you're right; everything would be great without the baron"

"I probably wouldn't be yelled at by your father" Tanya said, "I think the only reason why he didn't like me was because you brought me home. He probably wouldn't prefer Erol if it weren't for the crimson school"

"Your brother would never be born" I said to Kate.

She laughed, "Maybe" she said, "Or maybe he would still be born; only we would have been full siblings instead of half siblings"

"What brother?" Tetra asked.

"Never mind that, it's a secret" Kate said, "Maybe I'll tell you one day, when the baron is gone"

"Yeah, _when_ the baron is gone" Tetra said looking at the floor again.

Nobody said anything for a while.

I guess we were all thinking the same thing; it wasn't when the baron was gone anymore. Even after all we had done him; he always became stronger every day.

It wasn't a question of _when_ anymore; it was a question of _if_.

**Miss.Ecofreak: really depressive**

**Zakura: indeed. My parents were seperated too**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I doupt that can compare to this. Motherrabbits usually take care of ther offspring alone, but you could see your father every day, he was in the cage next to yo**

**Zakura: But I never got to hug him (cries)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: O.o**


	19. Tetra's Worst Nightmare

**Miss.Ecofreak: and here's yet another update on my very first fic**

**Zakura: yes...**

**Miss.Ecofreak: just be that way. First I want to thank everyone (in other words Dark Mar) for their wonderful review(s) I'm so glad you liked it:)**

**This chapter might not be one of my best, I just wrote it because I wanted to update it now! So... here's another chapter.**

**CHAPTER 28**

**TETRA'S NIGHTMARE**

Tetra

I don't know for how long we had been sitting there doing nothing.

I was scared, I admit that.

Never in my life had I been caught doing something wrong, and I knew what the baron does to spies.

After a couple of hours (though it felt like days) we heard voices outside.

"How could he escape? Those locks were the strongest metal we have! It's made for holding metalheads!" I recognised the voice as Erol.

"You saw it!" another guard said, "The chains looked like they had been ripped apart! As if some kind of monster broke them"  
"So the experiment worked after all" Erol muttered to the wall, out loud he said: "Let's question the girl now, perhaps she knows something about this"  
Suddenly the door opened and Erol came in, followed by another guard I didn't know.

"Back so soon?" Cornelius snarled.

"I didn't come to see you little brother, bring me the traitor" Erol said and the guard grabbed my arm.

"Don't tell him anything!" Tanya yelled as I was dragged out of the cell.

The guards dragged me up the stairs to the torture chamber; in the middle of the room was a large machine with some kind of gun pointed towards a chair.

I had a bad feeling about what that gun was doing, and my paranoia didn't improve as I noticed a purple liquid on the floor.

"Do you like it?" Erol asked as he noticed my frightened look, "It was supposed to help us create the perfect warrior for the war against the metalheads. It's a dark-eco beam, unfortunately most of our test subjects died before we were able to use them"

"You're a monster!" I yelled.

"I'm not as much of a monster as what's now loose in the streets" Erol said, "Our last test subject escaped only minutes after you were captured, and I suppose you have nothing to do about it?"  
"No" I said quickly, it seemed like the little ottsel actually succeeded saving his friend.

"Are you sure about that?" Erol asked, "Because if you're lying perhaps you want to try out this little toy?" he pointed towards the eco beam.

_Don't tell him anything, _I said to myself, _don't tell them a word!_

"Fine, you be that way" Erol said, "Get some new chains!"

I felt like crying, tell them everything. But it knew it was pointless, he would probably give me a treatment as punishment later anyways.

Some other guards came and removed the broken chains from the chair and replaced them with new ones.

Next they tied me on to the chair and got the machine ready.

"This might hurt, a lot" Erol said, "Or maybe you're lucky and you die immediately, but usually it takes a couple of hours".

I didn't even get time to complain before I felt tons of dark eco flowing through my body.

It felt like I was dying, but then the machine stopped almost as instantly as it had started.

"One second's treatment. How did you like it?" Erol asked.

I wanted to say something but the pain was still present, so all I managed to do was growl at him.

"Painful huh?" Erol asked, "We hear that a lot. We take a break now, dead elves can't tell on their buddies"  
I was thrown back into the cell, literally.

"Tetra, are you okay?" Shara asked.

"No" I moaned, "I hurt in body parts I didn't know I had. Aw, now my ears itch as well"  
"Uhm, Tetra? What happened to you?" Shara asked again.

"What do you mean? I'm not changed" I said.

"Check out your ears" Cornelius said.

I just looked at him in confusion at first, then I bent my ear so I would be able to look at it (**Zakura: there are advantages of having long ears)**

That's when I realised what had caused the itch; my ears were covered by red and brown fur!  
I looked down at my hands as well; they had brown fur on them too.

"What's happening to me?" I said.

"What did happen to you?" Cornelius asked.

"Well, Erol put on this machine full of Dark eco" I said.

"Of course, it's like what Daxter told me" Shara said, "He told me once he fell into a hole of Dark eco, that's what made him an ottsel".

"So you think I'm going to turn out like him?" I asked.

"Maybe not, your tail is a lot bushier" Cornelius said.

I looked behind me; sure enough a small bushy tail was sticking out of my pants, I noticed I was getting shorter too.

"Can't anyone stop this?" I cried and grabbed the tail, as if I could pull it out or something.

"I'm afraid not, I've read something about Dark eco once and as long as it doesn't kill anyone the changes are irreversible" Tanya said.

I was about to say a word I shouldn't be saying in front of kids when suddenly the transformation speed up.

Before I knew it I was even smaller than Daxter, I crawled out of my now over-sized clothes and looked up into three very surprised faces.

I looked down at my new body.

My feet were like brown rabbit feet but my hands looked like the front legs of a chinchilla.

The tail was now as long as my body, it looked like the tail of a squirrel or a chinchilla and was mostly brown with a red tip.

My ears had turned into rabbit ears, with the same colour as the tail.

"Please tell me this is a nightmare" I said.

"Look on the bright side, you do not look like Daxter" Cornelius said, "You're part rabbit part chinchilla, a chinbit!"

"Well I don't want to be an ottsel or a chinbit!" I complained, "I want to be a completely normal elf!"

"And I thought this would be an easy mission" Tanya sighed.

**Miss.Ecofreak: so how was that? did it suck or was it great? **

**Zakura: remember to send in a review, that's all we ask for.**


	20. All hope lost

**Miss.Ecofreak: And we're off! Here's another cheerful chapter from me, Miss.Ecofreak!**

**Zakura: ... the dark precursor who stopped writing cheerfulness quite a while ago**

**Miss.Ecofreak: what are you talking about? I'm still writing Dork3**

**Zakura: Sure, this story is going down. Is there any signs of hope in the nearest future?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: sure there are, Daxter saved his unknown friend and together they will save the world and everyone lives happily ever after**

**Zakura: even COrnelius?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: maybe, maybe not. You'll see. **

**But let's change the subject.**

**I have finally made up a last name for Tetra, her name looks so short on my profile page where I wrote about all the OCs in my stories.  
So here's a little challenge for you. Try to find out where I got the name from and send it in by review.**

**Zakura: You won't get any price though, this is just for fun.**

**CHAPTER 29**

**ALL HOPE LOST**

Torn

"This is not good, Shara and Cornelius have been gone for quite some time" Shadow said.

We were back at the hideout. It was five hours since we found the kid.

Kor had returned safely to the hideout with the kid but the two youngsters still hadn't come back.

"I don't get it. They were just going to return Crocket. Has he come back yet?" I asked.

"No, I have sent out a few of my agents to look for them" Shadow said, "Hopefully they haven't been caught". **(Miss.Ecofreak whistles innocently)**

"Speaking of caught, have any new recruits appeared today Torn?" Kor asked.

"There was a young boy with a rat who appeared soon after I got here. Why?" I asked.

Kor smiled a bit, "That young man saved me and little Jak from the KGs" He said, "I told him to go here. He might be useful, especially if Cornelius is caught".

"Could be, although it doesn't seem like it, Cornelius is our best agent" Shadow said, "I know he does a lot of mischief but every time he does something it always turns in our favour." Shadow giggled a bit, "Cornelius is more like his brother than he thinks. Both of them refuse to give up. Sometimes I wonder if Cornelius could cause the death of his brother".

"Or if Erol could cause the death of him" Kor said, "If Cornelius really is caught that might be most likely".

"Hey, we don't know if they are captured do we?" I said, "Maybe they're just occupied."

"Yeah, it might take more than a couple of crimson guards to catch Cornelius Elfin" Shadow said, "And with Tanya on their side no one can sneak in on them either"

But just as we were getting our hopes up an underground agent slammed the door opened, he held a really angry crocadog in his hands.

"This was found outside the fortress" the agent said, "Ashelin said they've been captured."

Everyone in the room gasped, even the kid knew this was serious.

"All of them? Even the bird?" Shadow asked.

"Even Tetra Quenya, apparently they were trying to rescue someone" the agent said.

This was too much, I knew Tetra from my school days, and she had always been our best spy. Besides, she was a good friend of Ashelin.

"This is just as I feared" Shadow said.

"Can't we help them? There must be a way to save them" I said.

"We have many agents who are prisoners in the fortress already; none of them have ever been rescued" Shadow said, "Breaking into that prison is suicide, the only one who would be able to do that is…" Shadow silenced.

"Who?" the agent asked hopefully.

"Cornelius Elfin" Shadow said.

We're doomed.

Cornelius

**(Miss.Ecofreak: let's just skip forward here)**

216. Month. 1

I wasn't ready to give up hope just yet.

Erol might think he's got an advantage by putting me in a cell but… nah, who am I kidding? That _is_ an advantage.

But I'm not giving up!

"Cornelius will you stop kicking the door? I'm trying to sleep!" Tetra complained.

She had made a bed out of her clothes; it almost looked like the nests rabbits make when they're expecting little ones, except it was made out of clothes not grass.

"I don't want to just sit here!" I said, kicking the door once more, "I need something to do or I'll go mad. Why can't that damn brother of mine come back so I can have someone to yell at?"  
"And I thought the divorce-thing would break you" Tanya said.

"Nothing's going to break me sparrow! Especially nothing my brother says!" I said, kicking the door with my broken shoe so the metal toe on it cracked.

"I'm going to sue the guy who sold me these when I get out of here" I said taking of the shoe, "He said it would take anything"  
"Broken shoes are the least of our problems now" Kate said, "Perhaps if we tried to find a plan instead of trying to kick the door open we can actually get out of here".

"Get out? Do you really think it's that easy?" Tanya asked, "No one has ever broken out of this fortress, that little rat spent two years trying to get in! And he made it simply because we helped him."

"Don't be that way!" Kate said but before Tanya had time to answer a Krimson Guard came in through the door (duh, where else was he supposed to come in?)

"The commander wants to see you" he said pointing at me.

"Why doesn't he come down here then?" I asked.

"He wants to talk in privacy" the KG said, "I'll take you there, and don't try anything stupid or your friends will have to pay"

I sighed; I really wanted to give this guard a piece of my mind but if that would put Tanya, Tetra or Kate in danger… no way.

The guard led me through the hallway; he didn't even bother to hold me so I wouldn't escape.

Surely Erol knew I wouldn't do anything that would put my friends in danger.

He brought me in to an office where my older brother was standing with his back turned towards the door.  
"You can go now" Erol said to the guard, without turning around.

As soon as the guard's footsteps had disappeared down the hallway Erol turned to face me.

"A lot more comfortable than your cell isn't it?" he asked, obviously talking about the office.  
"I don't know, the shelves look a bit rusty" I said casually, I didn't even look at Erol.

"You know its hopeless Corny, so why don't you just surrender and you might live!" Erol said.

"You can just as well kill me now cause I won't talk" I said, "Or join that stupid baron".

"He's not stupid!" Erol said slamming his fist into the desk, "He's our best chance in winning this war and you know it!"

"All I know is that he's a murderer!" I said, no point keeping it a secret if I was going to die anyway, "He caused the fire in Jacob's house! I saw it with my own eyes!"  
"For the precursor's sake Cornelius, you were four!" Erol said, "You probably fell asleep and dreamed the whole thing. As I recall you were quite delirious after the accident."

"I was not imagining things!" I said, "You don't have to believe me. In fact, if you did believe me I would ask the guards to send you to the nearest hospital cause you certainly must be sick."

"You just keep joking" Erol said, "The baron has given you one last chance".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; why the hell would Baron Praxis help me?  
"That's right superelf, he says that if you tell him what the underground is planning to do, you can have anything you ever wanted" Erol said.

"You must be nuts if you think he's gonna do that!" another voice said.

Tanya flew out of her hideout behind a shelf.

"What the devil's name are you doing here?" Erol snarled, "And how did you get out of the cell anyway?"  
"I just sneaked out when your guard looked another way" Tanya answered, "Never underestimate a sparrowflut".

"I'll be sure to remember to put you in a bird-cage" Erol said, "Either that or I'll take you too the vet. Or perhaps you want to end her suffering?" he looked at me, can you believe that? How can a person so insane be my brother?

"No way" I answered.

"Are you sure? You didn't seem to bother back in school?" Erol said, "You were quite impressing really, shooting wild birds like that"

Tanya looked at me in shock.

"That was a long time ago Erol" I answered, I didn't look at Tanya, "I've grown since then".

"Grown enough to shoot my guards" Erol answered, "Didn't even bother to think about their families. Did you?"

I looked away, focusing my attention on the top of a nearby shelf.

"Not really" I answered, "Not more than you thought about those underground agents you killed, or did you ever think about Tetra's family when you changed her into a chinbit?"

"See? You're just like me" Erol said, "The only difference is that you are in the underground while I am a Krimson guard".

"I'M NOT LIKE YOU!" I shouted, Tanya flew backwards in surprise and fell to the ground.

"Please, you can deny it all you want but you know it's true" Erol said, "We could be a great theme, together we would save the city from those metalhead scums and become heroes!"

I felt rage burning within me.

_I'm not like him!_ I thought for myself, _not like him!  
_"The underground is doomed, the only way up is by joining the guard" Erol continued, "So why won't you do it? Afraid to hurt your foolish little friends?"  
"Don't you dare touch them!" I said

"I won't" Erol answered, "But I can't stop the Krimson guards if the baron wants them executed. Actually you have no choice. Your friends will die either way, but as the baron's nephew I might be able to pull some strings"

"Drop it Erol. I'm not doing it" I said, "I don't want to betray my friends, even if they all die".

"Fine! So be it!" Erol said and pressed a button on his desk, four Krimson guards came in. "Take him to the air train station" he said, "If you dislike Haven City that much you are free to leave"

**Zakura: This is a death sentence Miss.Ecofreak! there must be another way!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: your protest was overruled. Any ideas for where the name Quenya came from? Here's a hint, it has something to do with elves and a very famous book that was made into a movie (or more than one) four years ago**

**Zakura: A very famous movie.**


	21. Of Family And Treachery

**Miss.Ecofreak: whoho! Two chapter uploads in two days!**

**Zakura: As if you've never done that before. Did anyone answer your question?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: checking the reviews is your job. But still.**

**Answer to Dark Mar: I'm impressed! Quenya is the first elven language that J.R.R Tolkien made. Long live Tolkien**

**Zakura: ehm... he's dead**

**Miss.Ecofreak: What? why? when?**

**Zakura: he died years ago! before he even finished Silmarilion**

**Miss.Ecofreak: hm, yeah. it was completed by his son. But enough LOTR-talk. Now for another uplifting chapter!**

**Zakura: uplifting?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: stop being so negative. Things have gone bad long enough. Brighter times are coming... **

**Zakura: We'll see about that.**

**CHAPTER 30**

**OF F****AMILY AND TREACHERY**

Erol

We took the air train out to the wasteland.

Even the bird tagged along, only because nobody was able to catch her and bring her back to the cell.

Cornelius didn't say a word the whole trip.

I was hoping he would give up, but then again, he was too much like me to give up.

The air train stopped in an unforgiving desert where Cornelius was literally thrown out of the train.

"What do you think? A bit barren isn't it?" I said, "There's still time to give up"

"And there's still time for you to realise that your IQ is far bellow average" Cornelius snarled back.

But the sparrow wasn't that tough.

"You can't do this! He's your brother!" she said.

"The law is the law, get over it!" I yelled, "Brothers or not, he's a criminal"  
"Drop it Tanya. Just go back to the city" Cornelius said.

"I don't want to leave you" Tanya said, "You wouldn't last a second out here!" **(Miss.Ecofreak: does this sound familiar?)**

"Neither will you" Cornelius said, "Go back and help Shara, tell her I'm sorry"

The bird flew down to Cornelius and landed on his stomach.

I didn't want to look. I never wanted this to happen. Then again, even out here I knew my little brother had a small chance of surviving, if only…

Suddenly, a roar in the distance broke the silence.

"What was that?" I asked in surprise.

"Metalheads" one of the guards answered.

I looked around, over a sand hill; five large metalheads appeared, on the looks of their faces I could tell they didn't just pass by.

"What are you waiting for? Shot them!" I ordered.

"No way commander" the guard answered.

"How dare you defy my orders? Kill those metalheads!" I yelled.

"My orders come from the baron. This kid was to be executed, not exiled" the guard answered.

"But…"  
"No buts commander, we're leaving, let the metalheads do the work you didn't have the guts to finish"

I looked back on my little brother, if he was scared he sure hid it well, the only thing that seemed to worry him was that Tanya was still on his head.

"Stay back Tanya, don't let them take you too" he said.  
"I don't want to" Tanya said, I could swear I saw tears running down her face, "You're my best friend"

"You're my best friend too Tanny" Cornelius answered.

Before he got time to say more, a large ball of dark eco fell down right next to the two.

Tanya was knocked out, Cornelius rolled over to the other side.

"Looks like you won at last brother" he said to me, before he disappeared around a cliff.

"Come on commander, we have to go" the guard said.

"Just wait" I answered.

I jumped out of the train and picked up the unconscious bird.

"Now we can leave" I said as I climbed back into the train.

As we left, I saw the brown-haired boy standing at a hill, looking for us.

He must have seen that I took the bird, because all remains of fear was gone from his face.

He knew he was going to die, and he didn't care, as long as his friend still lived.

A thought struck me as lightning.

Cornelius was right all along, he wasn't like me. He was much more courageous.

Cornelius

I saw Erol picked up Tanya before he left.

I guess it's true what the Shadow always said about there being something good in everyone.

The metalheads were advancing towards me, I was unarmed, and wearing no more protection than my every day clothes.

Was I scared? You bet, but I wasn't ready to show the metalheads.

My only concern was for Kate and the others, what would the baron do to them?

I closed my eyes and pictured Kate's face when she found out what had happened, _I'm so sorry I didn't come back to you_ I thought, _All I ever wanted was to help you rebuild your family, let you and you brother have the status you deserved, but I have failed._

Any minute now I would feel the teeth of the metalheads in my body.

I waited, but nothing happened.

Instead, I heard the sound of a roaring engine, not a zoomer-engine that's for sure.

I opened my eyes again, just in time to see the metalheads fall over, dead.

Two large vehicles with even bigger wheels appeared over the hill.

Marauders? Could this be the wasteland-bandits who hid in the mountains around here?

Or could it be the wastelanders?

The men in the cars noticed me quickly, who wouldn't? I stood on the top of a sand hill for the precursor's sake!  
One of them came up to me.

"Hey kid, what are you doing out here?"  
"Sunbathing?" I said. Those who say there are times when you should stop joking around lied.

The man laughed, "You're a funny one, from Haven right?"

I nodded.

"Well kid, the wasteland is no place for a city-boy like you" the wastelander said, "But I like you. Do you want to come back to Spargus with us?"

"Nooo, I want to stay out here and die in the desert, I've always wanted to try that" I said sarcastically, **(Miss.Ecofreak: fine. That was a reference to Dork3) **"Of course I want to!"  
"Then hop on" the wastelander said and jumped back into his car.

Erol

I ran up to the baron's palace, still holding the sparrowflut in my hand.

Baron Praxis was standing in his throne room, looking out of the window.

"Is something bothering you commander?" he asked.

"You know precisely what's bothering me" I answered, "Those metalheads, you sent them didn't you?"  
"Erol my boy, what makes you think that?" Praxis asked, "I didn't send them personally. All I did was to ask the metalhead leader for a small favour."

"Why?" I asked.  
"Your brother was a nuisance, he had to be executed" Baron Praxis answered, "I told you that if he agreed in helping us he could live, but if he didn't, he would be killed on the spot. Something you didn't do"

"I…I thought it didn't matter" I said, "I mean, out in the wasteland… he can't return from there right?"

"If the wastelanders find him the whole point of the banishment is pointless! The only way to be sure he never returned was to make sure he died" Baron Praxis said, "I know why you're worried. You're probably scared of what you parents will say when you tell them your little brother is dead."

I nodded; I didn't want to cause my mother more pain.

"By the way. What is that bird doing here?" Praxis asked.

Tanya had awoken, and she was now twirling around in my hand to get loose.

"Er… It was my brother's" I said, "She's harmless" I put the bird on my shoulder, "Don't do anything stupid. Or he'll probably kill us both" I whispered to her.

The bird nodded silently and hid under my race mask.

"I'll tell your parents the bad news, but now, I've got an important meeting" Praxis said.

He turned towards a large communicator behind me.

I turned around too. Seconds later, a large monstrous face appeared on it.

"What the is that?" Tanya said surprised.

"Watch your language bird. That's the metal head leader" I said.

"Ah, the young commander has returned" the leader said with a smirk, "Did my warriors do well?"  
"They did the job alright" I said. I felt Tanya turned around on my head, as if she thought if she didn't look at the MH-leader he would disappear.

"Good. Now for the payment" the leader said, now turning towards Praxis, "I haven't gotten much eco the last week, my warriors are getting hungry"

"I told you, I will have more eco by weeks end" Praxis said, "We'll have it delivered directly to your nest as promised"

"I grow inpatient with your puny gestures" the metalhead leader said, "Give me the agreed upon eco soon or the deal is of!"

That guy was really getting on my nerves, calling us as if we were his personal pizza shop.

As soon as the transmission was over, I turned towards the baron again.

"He's toying with us!" I yelled, "Let me lead an assault on the nest before it's too late! I can take him!"

"Patience commander. No one has ever penetrated the metalheadnest, you know that. I've seen what comes of such foolish plans", his hand went over the metal part of his face, "No, we play helpless. We train them to eat from our hands, and then… Tell Ashelin to up her patrols! I want that tomb found!"

"But your daughter has not been…agreeable" I said.

"Hmp! I'll se to that problem. One way or another" the baron said.

I halfway hoped that the meeting was over now, please don't have him mention…

"AND FIND THAT CHILD!"

Damn! He said it again.

"If you spent half as much time searching for that brat as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl we would have pinned his royal ass on the wall long ago!" Praxis said.

"What am I hearing? Erol's got a girlfriend?" Tanya whispered.

"Shut up" I whispered back, "I'll find him. With enough persuasion I'm sure our spy will…"

Suddenly, a sound from above interrupted me.

It sounded like sneezing.

"What was that?" I said and grabbed for my gun as a reflex.

"We've got visitors" Baron Praxis said, "I'll better give them a warm welcome"

"What in the name of the precursors was that all about?" Tanya asked.

"That's absolutely none of your business. You're lucky I didn't leave you to die in the desert" I said.

"I don't know about that. You seemed to have it all planned out all along" Tanya said.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about" I answered.

"Come on. You could have killed Cornelius all along, but you didn't. Why?" Tanya asked.

"I've already said that" I answered, "It was for my parents"  
"Yeah right. This is not about your parents Erol, it's about your brother" Tanya said, she flew of my head and landed on the floor.

"Ask yourself this question" she said, "If your parents had died long ago, would you have killed Cornelius as you were supposed to do?"

"Of course" I said.

"You're sweating" Tanya said, "You can't lie to me commander. Cornelius was your brother and you never meant for him to die!"

"What do you know about that? Nothing!" I yelled at her.

"If you really hated Cornelius that much you wouldn't have taken me back to the city would you?" the sparrow said, "Your parents wouldn't care less if I died. The only person in your family who ever appreciated me is most likely dead. I should have died too, if it weren't for one small thing. You saved my life! And don't tell me it's because I am an innocent victim because no Krimson guard would ever care about that"

"Shut up" I said, "Shut the hell up."

"I'm not stopping before you admit it" Tanya said, "No elf would ever wish for it's sibling to die, not really. No matter what happens, you will always be brothers."

"_Is he… how is he… he's not"_

I wanted her to shut up. Why couldn't she just shut up?

"_There's a fire in the basement!"_

I could end this easily, just turn around, face the sparrowflut, pull the trigger on my gun and she would be dead.

"_He went to the toilet... this is not good"._

But I didn't do it. My parents were parted, my uncle wouldn't care less, my brother was dead, and this bird, Tanya was all I had left of my old family.

**Miss.Ecofreak: some bad things happened here, but some good things as well**

**Zakura: And you've just shown the readers exactly when in Jak2 this chapter takes place.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: jepp. Baron Praxis just left to give Jak a piece of his mind. Too bad he failed**

**Zakura: Jak's the hero, even Daxter admited that. once**

**Miss.Ecofreak: And if you're wondering about those lines written in italics up there they are flashbacks to chapter two, my brother actually found it weird that all the main characters remembered exactly what happened that night but well... Erol was six back then and a large fire is not easily forgotten.**

**Zakura: And Kate and Ashlein were five and Cornelius four. He's actually yhe youngest of the main characters here**

**Miss.Ecofreak: Anyhow. Leave a review and you'll make me happy. and I'll try to update soon, I'll just have to figure out what to write first:)**


	22. Behind her tough looks

**Miss.Ecofreak: wow! This story is written a lot quicker than when I started it. I don't have anything stupid to say so let's just go straigth to the reviews.**

**Answer to Dark Mar (who is in fact the only one who's reviewed in a looong time): No.**

**Zakura: the simple is often the best. What is this all about**

**Miss.Ecofreak: oh, flashbacks. This chapter is about Tetra, basicly just telling about her small family**

**Zakura: dude, her family is bigger than mine, not counting the half siblings.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: big familys aren't always a good thing, espesially not with those parents. read and... er... enjoy...**

**CHAPTER 31**

**BEHIND HER TOUGH LOOKS**

Kate

"Why hasn't he come back yet?" I wondered out loud.

Tetra was still lying in her clothes, trying to sleep.

Though I could see she wasn't able to sleep either.

"Will you shut up? You make me nervous when you talk like that" she said, "I'm sure everything will be fine, Cornelius can look after himself".

"Sure, when he's out in the streets" I said, "But what happens now? If Erol decides to kill him, he's dead already"

"Would Erol kill his own brother?" Tetra asked, "I have some annoying little siblings myself but I would never kill them. Although there are so many of them my parents probably wouldn't notice if one died. I wonder how long it will take before they notice I'm gone."

Even though I still worried about Cornelius, I couldn't help but being surprised of how easy Tetra found it to talk about her parents.

She had seven younger siblings, and her parents hardly knew the names on all of them, seeing she had also three older siblings (for those who doesn't like math, there are eleven kids in that family).

When Tetra was born, her two older brothers and one sister was neglected and taken away by the Krimson guards when her parents were not able to look after them.

They wanted to take Tetra too, but her parents promised to improve themselves and look after this new baby.

The first five years they actually did get better.

During that time, they got triplets as well, three new girls.

Then again, looking after four children turned out to be too much.

Tetra eventually got used to having no parents to talk to when she needed it, that made her quite independent, and sometimes she got jealous of her sisters.

When the triplets were two years old, their parents had a small boy.

Their parents got sick of the children and started drinking.

If Jacob hadn't already died the year before, all five of the kids would have been taken from them, but the baron didn't care of course.

Even when the adopted mother of Tetras oldest sister died, he actually put her back with her biological parents.

Her name was Mimi, and she was seven years older than Tetra.

When she came back with her parents, she was thirteen years old and was often forced to look after her younger siblings and even sometimes she had to take care of her parents who got drunk every night.

Things didn't get better when Tetra's mother got another baby.

Another girl.

Now they had one boy, Nick, at one year old, the three year old triplets, Annie, Jill and Juliet, Tetra who was seven and the oldest, Mimi at fourteen plus the infant, who the parents didn't even bother to name.

Her parents knew her simply as "the little pest", though Mimi called her Faith.

Before Faiths first birthday, she got no less than two younger brothers, named (once again by their siblings) Sirius and James (**Miss.Ecofreak: I do not own those names, they are from Harry Potter)**

But soon after the twins birth, their parents decided to send Mimi of to krimson school.

Now Tetra was the oldest, but even she was only eight years old at this time, besides, she hated taking care of children.

But as you already know, she didn't want them to die either.

She sneaked the two newborns out of the house, and gave them to the adopted parents of one of her brothers.

Her parents didn't even notice they were gone, in fact, Tetra told me they still thought they had eleven children, while they actually had "only" six at home.

When Tetra was eleven years old, bad news reached her ears.

Mimi had been found dead in her room at the krimson intern.

Apparently she had taken her own life.

Her parents hardly cared of course, but the kids were devastated, Tetra had her hands full of trying to comfort them even though she was very sad herself.

Her parents seemed to have stopped making babies though, that was a relief.

Tetra was sick of the whole thing, at thirteen years old she actually begged her parents to send her to the Krimson School, believe it or not.

She knew that the school was a living hell, Cornelius had made sure of that, but living amongst a drunken mother and five siblings who constantly wanted attention seemed even worse.

Tetra is the toughest girl I know, the fact that she survived trough all this and still acts unaffected, I wouldn't be able to do it.

Compared to her, my life didn't look so bad.

But then again, she was used to the neglect.

Whenever she got in a hard situation, she always managed to get something good out of it.

She didn't seem to care much about her new appearance either.

After being caught in a chinbit-body for one month, she acted just like the tough girl she used to be.

I knew however, somewhere beneath the thick chinchilla fur, (they've got a lot of fur I tell you, they have sixty hairs in one hair sack), and her tough attitude, there was a very lonely little girl.

"Do you miss them sometimes?" I asked, "Your siblings I mean?"

"Who? You mean Simon who I hardly knew? Or Mimi who looked after me as a child? Timmy who took care of Sirius and James, or the triplets, Faith and Nick?" Tetra asked.

"All of them" I said.

Tetra looked down, "All the time" she answered, "And you? Do you miss your family sometimes?"  
"You bet" I answered.

"Didn't you mention you had a brother?" Tetra asked, "How come I've never met him?"

"Oh, that's a long story" I answered.

"Well come on, we're not in a hurry" another voice.

"Tanya! Where did you come from?" I asked in surprise.  
"Through the door like any other decent people" Erol said, I almost jumped up in surprise, I didn't see him come but now he was standing in the door.

"When did you come in?" I asked, "And where's Cornelius?"

For once, Erol didn't seem all overconfident, he looked out of the door nervously as to check if anyone was around, then he closed the cell door.

"I just came with the bird" he answered, "As for Cornelius, he's dead"

**Miss.Ecofreak: to be continued**

**Zakura: you're evil**

**Miss.Ecofreak: relax, I'll update as soon as the next chapter is finished, and it is soon. meanwhile, please review! Having more than one review for this chapter would be great, or else... oh well, one is better that nothing anyway.**


	23. The legend of Spargus and Dark Eco

**Miss.Ecofreak: here we go again**

**CHAPTER 32**

**THE LEGEND OF SPARGUS AND DARK ECO**

Kate

I would have collapsed if I wasn't already sitting down, Cornelius dead? It couldn't be true.

"You can't be serious" Tetra yelled.

"I'm afraid it's true" Tanya said sad, "I saw it, well, I didn't see him die though but I saw the metalheads"

"Metalheads? I really didn't think you would have trusted them to do your dirty work" Tetra said to Erol.

"Will you keep it down? The baron isn't supposed to know I'm down here" Erol whispered, "He ordered me to put Tanya out of misery, but… I don't want to. You have to believe me when I say I never wanted this to happen"

"Why should we trust you?" Tetra asked, "If it weren't for you I'd still be wearing pants!" (**Miss.Ecofreak: (giggles) sorry, couldn't help it)**

"I was only following the baron's orders!" Erol said, "But now when it came to Cornelius. Baron Praxis wanted me to kill him instantly, but he's my brother"

"So you let the metalheads do it instead? Smart" Tetra said sarcastically.

"Will you please let me finish?" Erol asked, "I didn't think the metalheads would get him! I sent him out to the wasteland so he would have some chances of survival"

"In the wasteland?" now it was my turn to be suspicious, "How will that improve his survival rates?"  
"There is another city out in the desert, built by those who have been banished from Haven throughout times" Erol explained.

"But that's a myth" Tetra said.  
"I said the same thing when Cornelius kept blabbering about it as a kid. But as I got older I figured it might not be impossible" Erol continued, "People have been thrown out of Haven since Mar's time. I read through some of the history books at school and found out about some very harsh people who were thrown out about a hundred years ago. They had been outside the city many times, and rumours said that when the guards where looking for them, they could camp outside the walls; this gave them the nickname "wastelanders". So after their banishment, people thought they were dead, but some years later, when another man was exiled, the transport was attacked by the wastelanders. Before the guards fled, they claimed to have seen a small town, in the middle of the desert"

"Spargus City" I gasped, "But… how did they know the guards weren't seeing things?"  
"You seem very interested in Kg-history for an underground member" Erol said.

"It's Haven City's history, besides, the kg weren't working for the baron back then" I said.

"Right. You've got a point, the desert heat can make the strongest go mad, but many people claim to have seen the desert city in later times to. I've seen it, or parts of it. Sometimes when the weather is clear, and I'm out to banish a poor soul, I saw a fire burning high up on a pillar; it's probably a beacon to guide the citizens back home when they're out in the desert" Erol told.

"Why the hell would anyone be out in the desert anyway?" Tetra muttered.

"Why don't you just shut the hell up?" Erol asked, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…", "And he says I'm rude?", "…the chinbit better shut her mouth before I make a coat out of her. As I was saying, I figured if I sent Cornelius out to Spargus, he would have better chances for survival than if he stayed here. But the baron found out, and he warned the metalheads".

"Baron Praxis cooperates with the metalheads?" I said in surprise.

"Yes. Now that you've just managed to figure out confidential information perhaps you will let me finish?" Erol asked. It was easy to see he was starting to get very annoyed.

"Erol. That was all" Tanya commented.

"Why you little…"  
"But how do you know the metalheads killed him?" Tetra asked, "Cornelius is a survivor, and he never leaves home without his little gun. No kg has ever caught him (until now) and I doubt a metalhead will"  
"You've never seen a wasteland metalhead have you?" Erol asked, "Cause they would hardly feel it if Cornelius tried his little gun at them. I know he's capable of killing smaller metalheads. If he wasn't… I wouldn't be here today"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He didn't seem to want to answer that, he tried to pretend he didn't hear me.

"Erol, the girl just asked you a question. Shall I repeat it for you?" Tanya asked.

"Fine! I'll tell you. One time we were out in the forest riding flut-fluts Cornelius, sort of, saved my life" Erol said.

"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Tanya said.

Erol just glared at her.

"I have to go now" he said, "I have other duties you know".

And with that, he left, unfortunately remembering to shut the door.

"And he didn't even bring candy" Tetra said.

Even though it was a sad situation I giggled.

"Tetra, chinbits can die of to much sugar" I said.

"Doesn't matter now, we're as good as dead anyway" Tetra said, "I prefer dying of sugar-poisoning than being killed by an overload of dark eco or whatever Praxis does to his prisoners".

"Come on, we have to keep our hopes up" Tanya said, "Speaking of hopes, what were you talking about when Erol and I got here?"  
"Oh, that. I guess it doesn't matter if I tell you" I said, "But like I said, it's a long story"  
"And like I said, we have lots of time, let's hear about your little family" Tanya said.

So I told them, everything.

About my heritage, little Jak, and my true name.

It felt relieving having someone to talk.

I had never talked to anyone about this, my family knew all along of course and Cornelius figured it out on his own.

As soon as I was done, both bird and chinbit looked at me wide-eyed.

"So it's really you" Tetra said, "Kate, I thought I'd never see you again"

"You're an heir of Mar and you never told us?" Tanya asked, "Did Cornelius know about this?"  
"Yes, he figured it out" I said, "I think he must have had a hunch about it since I met him in the underground, and one day he followed me home without me noticing, and heard my mother use my real name, that's when he knew"

"But this is great! That means you're a princess! You can take over this city instead of baron Praxis" Tanya said.

"Yeah right, as if Praxis would allow that" Tetra said, "Besides, didn't you say you didn't want to become queen?"  
"Yeah, Jak probably would have been a much better ruler than I am anyway" I said.

"As long as he doesn't grow up like that other Jak" Tanya muttered.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused.

"Don't you remember? That kid Daxter wanted us to rescue. I've heard about him lots only today. Thought I might stay low after breaking out of prison and stuff" Tanya said.

"What did he do? I love stories of trouble makers, especially if they make trouble for the baron" Tetra said.

"Well, from what I've heard, he managed to break into the ammo dump and blow the whole thing up the same day as he escaped, and later he's killed more Krimson guards than Cornelius has taunted. Earlier today he even managed to get into the palace and kicked baron Praxis' but" Tanya told, "Unfortunately your dear uncle didn't suffer from fatal injuries"

"Too bad" I said.

"He sounds hot" Tetra said, "I have to meet this one."  
"I don't know, he sounds kind of scary" Tanya said.

"He hates the baron, how bad can he be?" Tetra asked.

"There is another thing I've heard" Tanya said, "About the dark-warrior program. It turns out it actually worked; the baron really did create a monster"

The dark-warrior program? Impossible!

"But I thought nobody could survive that amount of dark eco" I said.

"Jak can" Tanya said, "The KG call him Dark ecofreak, whenever he's angry he turns all pale and grows claws and horns and everything. He kills anything that moves, no matter if they're innocent or evil. Baron Praxis wants him dead, and he's not the only one. Even the people are scared of him sometimes".

"But it's not his fault is it?" I said, "After all Daxter told me about him… I can't picture him as a monster"

"Dark eco does things to you" Tanya said, "I read a book about it once. It said something about an old sage of dark eco who went bad, really bad. You don't even want to hear what happened to him"

"I've heard about that legend" Tetra said, "The dark sage was destroyed by a kid with an extremely rare talent of channelling eco, not unlike Mar's bloodline"  
"Do you think that kid could be a relative of Mar?" I asked.

"Not impossible, he did live some years before Haven City" Tanya said, "The book couldn't say the exact dates of course; it was over two hundred years ago. But it told a lot about the dark eco, nobody has ever studied dark eco like that dark sage did, then again, his studies made him the monster he was before he died".

"I wonder if that Jak-guy is related to Mar as well" Tetra said, "Surviving all that eco I mean. He sounds like he could be a channeler"  
"Or he's just lucky" Tanya said.

"Maybe, or maybe he is…" a sudden thought came to my head, out of nowhere.

He couldn't be… he's way too old.

"Maybe he is what?" Tanya asked.

"Nothing" I said, my fantasy could go crazy sometimes, but as Tanya told her story, I remembered the legend of Gol the sage as well.

"I've seen the hero" I said suddenly, "He who defeated the dark sage. On a picture. The odd thing is… he reminded me of… no, that's impossible"

"So he looks like someone you know, big deal" Tetra said, "At least some of his ancestors are probably living here in this city. In fact, even one of us could be after all these years"  
"Yeah, but I remembered something else to" I said, "He always had this little ottsel on his shoulder and the boy's name…"

"What's with his name?" Tanya asked.

"Jak, his name was Jak" I said.

Coincidence? Honestly!

**Zakura: no really. Now there are three Jak's in this story**

**Miss.Ecofreak: actually it's only one. I am not planning to let the main characters of this story meat Jak2-Jak in this fic (only in the sequel), and Jak-and-Daxter-Jak disappeared when he got older and grew into what he is in Jak2**

**Zakura: sure, everyone knows what the conection between the two Jaks in Jak2 is (perhaps that's why it's called Jak2?). But are you going to have any action again soon? they're all just stuck in a prison.**

**Miss.Ecfreak: stop whining. Please review! Please!**


	24. Secrets of the past

**Miss.Ecofreak: Who was the hero from the past who saved the world from the dark sage? Hmp, any Jak-and-Daxter-fan should know but still. And what is his connection to the so-called Dark Ecofreak?**

**Zakura: or Miss.Ecofreak**

**Miss.Ecofreak: knock it of. Okay, you probably already know the answers to the questions above, but I ask all the same. But Kate and Co doesn't know, lets se if she can find out.**

**CHAPTER 33**

**SECRETS OF THE PAST**

Kate

"See? I told you"  
We were looking in a book Erol had brought us (after a lot of persuasion from Tanya) called "Legends of Sandover Village"

As the title said, the book was about the village that once stood where Haven City is today, there were many books on this subject in Haven City, but for obvious reasons, we chose to take a picture book.

The picture we now were looking at was a two hundred years old picture of a nineteen year old boy.

The boy looked casual, but still Tetra meant it was no doubt he was related to Mar somehow.

He had blue eyes, just like many in my family, his hair was greenish yellow like Jacob's had been and his eyebrows dark green.

His ears even had the little twist on them like mine and little Jak's.

But the thing that perplexed me the most was what he had on his shoulder.

As I remembered from my school days, the boy had an ottsel on his shoulders.

Coincidence Tetra had said; there had to be more ottsels around than Daxter.

But as I saw the orange creature on Jak's shoulder, I knew it had to be him.

"It all fits! Everything from his eyes to the goggles on his head!" I said.

"This is too weird" Tanya said, "These pictures were taken like two hundred years ago, Daxter surely didn't look two hundred".

"He was twenty-one, he told me" I said, "But it has to be him!"

"What about the boy? Does he look like the so-called Dark-ecofreak?" Tetra asked.

"Yes, he looks younger though" Tanya said, "But it might fit if Daxter said he was looking for him for two years, adult ottsels don't change much when they're grown up".

"And that's not all" I said and flipped to the last chapter, "The metalheads arrive" was the title.

"It says here the hero disappeared at the same day as the metalheads arrived, along with his friends, including the sage of green eco", I pointed at a picture of an old man with green skin and a log on his head, "Does he look familiar to you?"

"Now you're creeping me out" Tanya said, "He looks like an older version of Shadow, but how is that even possible?"

"There has to be a natural explanation to this" Tetra said, "Elves can live to a two hundred years but they don't get younger!"  
"Maybe he took an extreme makeover?" Tanya joked, "But it still doesn't explain why Daxter said he was twenty-one."

"This is giving me a headache" Tetra said, "Can't we just call it a day? And then Tanya can ask Erol to bring me cake, I need sugar right now".

Tanya and I stared at her.  
"I am addicted; since I came to this place I hadn't had as much as a chocolate" Tetra said, "So what if chinbits can't take sugar? I need some now!"

She kept complaining as I read through the book to find an explanation.

"Perhaps I can have some kind of sugar-replacement, something that tastes better than bread and water" Tetra said, "I have this weird feeling of wanting to eat hay. If I have to stay here for much longer I'll go insane! Does anyone have a packet of rabbit-food?"

She fell to the ground and buried her face in her clothes, I could still hear her muttering but at least I was able to concentrate more about the book.

There was quite a lot written about the fight against the dark sage, Gol and his sister Maya (**Are they siblings? I haven't played JD for some time)**.

I had to resist the urge of reading only about the orphan flut-flut who adopted Daxter as her mother, to find out more about how these people two hundred years ago could look so similar to those alive today.

"Hey, this could be something" I said.

Tetra looked up from her "pillow" and stared blankly at me, "Still reading that book?" she asked.

Tanya flew over and landed on my head.

"It says here that after Gol and Maya fell into the silos, Jak found some kind of precursor machine" I read out loud.

"Do you think it could have been a time machine?" Tanya asked.

"Precursors are known to have made the most amazing machines" I said, "And it included a portal, perhaps this was the portal the metalheads came through" **(She's smart, I'm so proud to have created such an intelligent character)**

"They came through a portal?" Tetra asked, still with her face buried in the clothes.

"Nothing is certain about how they appeared" I said, "But there is an old legend saying that the metalhead leader appeared in Sandover that day, and he was seen coming through a large rift ring"

"And if he came to Sandover through it, Jak and Daxter could have left through it" Tanya said and nodded, "The rift ring is legendary; it can be a portal to other worlds or to different periods in history"

"Drop it! I'm trying to sleep!" Tetra said.

"That explains it for Jak and Daxter, but what about Samos? From what I've heard he hates teleporting" I said, ignoring Tetra's muttering, "I can't picture him going through a rift"

"So maybe he didn't, maybe Samos is just a relative of the green sage" Tanya said.

A lot of maybes, would we ever know for sure?

A month passed, we didn't get to hear a lot of what was going on outside the fortress but seeing that Erol became more and more grumpy every day, we took it as a sign that things were going well for the underground.

But one day, that changed.

I was awoken at three AM because Tetra was making a lot of noise, playing with a plate.

"Tetra, what are you doing?" I asked drowsily.

"I can't sleep!" Tetra said, jumping on one side of the plate making it flip and fly through the air, "And of some reason, this seems really fun, I think I'm going nuts!"

"You're not nuts, not more that natural at least" I said, "Chinbits are nocturnal. They sleep during the day and are awake at night."

"But can you please stay awake a bit more silently? Kate and I are day-animals" Tanya said.

Though I had hardly slept an hour before the door opened.

"What now?" I asked, it was too early for breakfast.

"You" the guard said, pointing at me, "Come with us"

Suddenly I was wide awake, awake and scared.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Confidential" the guard just answered, "Now come here, Kate Praxis".

"What did you…?" I started but the guard just laughed.

"The room is under surveillance" he said pointing at a hidden microphone in the ceiling, "We heard all you said, except for the times when the batteries were out. Come now, your uncle wants to see you".

He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room; Tanya and Tetra managed to sneak out and hid nearby.

It didn't take long until we were in the main office of the fortress.

Baron Praxis was there, along with Erol who was looking away as I entered.

"There you are, how you've grown since I last saw you" my uncle said, trying to sound as the nice uncle I thought he was sixteen years ago.

"Shut the hell up" I said, "What do you want?"  
"Oh come on Katy, I don't want to hurt you" Praxis said, "I just need you to do me a little favour"

"And what makes you think I want to help?" I asked.

"Well if you put it that way" Baron Praxis said and sounded disappointed for a moment, but then I noticed he was grinning at something behind me.

I turned around and I saw a krimson guard who had just come in, he was holding Tetra by her tail, "Let me go you big bastard!" she said, "Chinbit-teeth never stop growing and I haven't had much to chew on the last two months"  
"Let me put it to you this way, help me or your little rodent-friend dies" Praxis said.

"Hey! I'm no rodent, chinbits are lagomorphs!" Tetra said. **(Zakura: a little thing she has inherited from the rabbits, we are not rodents, chinchillas however are. Don't ask me what the difference is though)**

I was terrified, whatever the baron wanted me to do could not be good, but I didn't want Tetra to die either.

"Fine, I'll help" I said.

**Miss.Ecofreak: what's going to happen now?**

**Zakura: only you can answer that**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I sure can, I wrote no less than three chapters yesterday, that also meant I had no time to update this or Dork3**

**Zakura: or Undercover Ottsel**

**Miss.Ecfreak: whatever. The next chapter will be up soon, meanwhile, a little review would be nice.**


	25. The Baron's big plan

**Miss.Ecofreak: Welcome back to another chapter of Growing Up In Haven City**

**Zakura: (reads reviews) oh, new reviews... what's a cliffhanger?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: er...a dude who hangs from a cliff?**

**Zakura: ...right...**

**Miss.Ecofreak: nah, I'm joking. Thanks for the review Dark Mar, I had a lot of things going on which I couldn't fit in one chapter, that's why the cliffies appeared, there are even more to come if you like those kind of stuff.**

**Zakura: then what isa cliffhanger?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: read and you'll see**

**CHAPTER 34**

**THE BARON'S BIG PLAN**

Kate

It didn't take long until I figured out where we were going.

Before I was captured, I had heard rumours that Baron Praxis wanted to find the fabled precursor stone, which was, according the legend, hiding in Mar's tomb.

Then again, only an heir of Mar could open the tomb, obviously the underground had already found it and somehow Baron Praxis had figured it out too.

Tanya mentioned that Praxis had a spy in the underground, I guess this proved it.

The kg-zoomer we were riding stopped by the large statue of Praxis near the palace; I noticed its head had fallen of because of a large beam of light that had hit it.

The light tower, I had heard legends about it but didn't believe it actually existed.

The entrance to Mar's tomb was indeed under the statue, my little brother, Kor and Shadow were inside the opening hall, but there was another door in front of them that was closed.

"Wow, the great Mar's tomb" Tetra said, "How dare Praxis defile that holy place?"  
"Didn't think you were religious?" I said.

"I'm not, but the thought of Baron Praxis near anything Mar has ever touched fills me with dread" Tetra said, "In fact, the thought of Baron Praxis being near anything of importance fills me with dread"  
"Freeze!" one of the KGs said and pointed his gun at the Shadow, Kor and little Jak.

They all turned around with a surprised look.

"Praxis! How did you know we were here?" Shadow asked.

"You'd like to know that wouldn't you?" Praxis said, "Where's the Ecofreak? I was hoping he was with you"

Neither Shadow nor Kor answered, little Jak couldn't, he hadn't spoken since our mother died.

He just hid behind Kor's robes.

"Ah, there's the youngest heir of Mar, you didn't seriously think he was going to pass the tests of manhood did you?" Praxis asked, "I'm going to get that stone! And none of you are going to stop me"  
The guards pushed me forwards into the tomb, usually I would seize any opportunity to visit the last resting place of my great ancestor, but now all I wanted was to be back in the cell.

But there was no way I could stop it, slowly but surely, the door into the tomb opened, one last chance! I ran towards the opening but Praxis stopped me.

"Hold on little girl, I don't want anything to happen to my little niece" he said.

I saw both Shadow and Kor was a bit surprised by hearing the baron call me niece.

Little Jak was nowhere to be seen, but I noticed Kor had a large lump under his robes, and the lump was shaking.

"Erol! You take care of these traitors!" Praxis said as a large squid-looking machine was lifted of a zoomer, "I am going to get that stone!"  
As soon as Praxis had disappeared inside Erol took control.

"You heard the baron, seize them!" he yelled.

A krimson guard grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from the tomb.

Another one grabbed Tetra by the tail again (she had been on my shoulder since we left the fortress).

"This is animal abuse!" Tetra complained, "I want a lawyer!"

"I just hope Jak is able to deal with Praxis by himself" Shadow said as he was pushed into the prison transport.

"If he survived the tests, that is" Kor muttered.

"Shut up old man and get inside!" Erol said, but suddenly, the next to the transport collapsed.  
"What the?" Erol said and looked to the side of the statue.

There was a young girl standing here, and she was armed, it was Tess.

"Let go of my friends this instant!" She said, "I'm warning you, if you touch them I will hunt you down and hit you real hard!"  
"Man I'm scared" Erol said rolling his eyes, "Take her too" he said to his guards.

Two other guards jumped out of the transport.

Tess shot once and one of them fell to the ground.

The other one grabbed her left hand, but Tess was too quick, with her right hand she shot her captor and the ones who were holing me, Tetra, Kor and the kid.

"Run!" She yelled.

I didn't have to be asked twice, I followed Tess with Kor right behind me, and he was falling behind.

"Kor! Hurry up!" I said to him.

"I'm not as fast as I used to be" Kor said panting.

"I'll take care of them" Tess said and ran back to Kor.

She used her gun to keep the KGs at bay, while she was pushing Kor to make him run faster.

"What shall we do?" Tetra said, "If they catch us we are dead!"  
"You said you didn't care if you died" I commented.

"That was in the prison, when I'm free I want to live" she said, "And whatever you do, don't even show me a chocolate ever again".

I wanted to reply but there was no time, I noticed a four-seat-zoomer in front of me.

"Want a ride?" I asked.

"Sure we can just take that? With the kid watching and all?" Tetra asked.

"No problem, Jak, don't do this at home" I said and lifted my brother up in the zoomer.

As soon as I had fastened Jak in the passenger seat, and Tetra safe on his lap I drove the zoomer back to Kor and Tess.

"Come on, hop aboard" I said.

Tess jumped up into the zoomer and we both helped pulling Kor in.

"There they are! In that zoomer!"

"O crap, here comes the men in red" Tetra said.

"Hold on everyone, time to pull a Cornelius" I said and flipped the gear over in top-speed.

Top-speed on a big zoomer like the one we were driving wasn't as fast as a smaller one, but it was faster than the speed I usually used.

"I don't know what's worst, being shot or crashing into a wall" Kor said.

"Don't disturb me and we may not find out" I said.

"Here they come" Tess said, the krimson guards had zoomers now, Tess turned around in the back seat and started shooting.

One shot, two shots, click.

"Damn! I knew I should have reloaded this!" she said.

"We're dead" Tetra said.

Just as she said that, the engine started making funny noises.

"We are so dead" Tetra repeated.

**Miss.Ecofreak: that's a cliffhanger**

**Zakura: Tetra saying we are so dead? Makes no sense. And whatever happened to Tanya?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: You'll see, she'll be back in the next chapter, along with even more new characters. In the meantime, review, and the next chapter will be up shortly.**


	26. Meet the Quenyas

**Miss.Ecofreak: and we're off again! This chapter title might be a bit silly since the four Quenya-brothers are adopted and shouldn'tnormally use their old last-names. In order to keep the family-relation though, I kept the old last name as well as the name of their adopted parents.**

**Zakrura: all of wich comes from Silmarillion**

**Miss.Ecofreak: Tolkien was such a genius, although his books are damn difficult to read. Timmy, Sirius and James' last name is the one that's most like the orignal Quenya. Sindari comes from the word Sindarian, the second elven language Tolkien created, (Quenya was the first)**

**Simon's last name is Vasa, that was one of the many names the elves used on the sun, it means fire heart. I was quite unsure of what to call him since I had used up both the elven languages, so I picked this one.**

**So the full names of the new characters now is Timmy, Sirus and James Quenya Sindari and Simon Quenya Vasa, just to let you know.**

**Zakura: who needs last names anyway? Me for once preferes to be called Zakura The Killer Rabbit, on with the story.**

**CHAPTER 35**

**MEET THE QUENYAS**

"Come on start!" I said, hitting the dashboard, as if that was going to help.

But it was no use, the zoomer fell to the ground and eventually stopped going.

"Okay, it was nice knowing you all" Tetra said, "I only wished I was able to see my siblings once more before I died"

"We can make it some true" an unknown voice said.

Four boys jumped down from the roof of a small house.

The oldest looked around twenty-two, and the second oldest around twenty-one.

While the youngest boys couldn't be older than twelve, both looked exactly the same.

"Timmy? Simon? Is it really you?" Tetra said in disbelief, "And Sirius and James, you have grown"  
"Wish I could say the same about you" one of the twins said, "We heard you were in trouble so we decided to help".

"How did you know?" I asked.

"A little bird twittered" the second-oldest, Simon said.

Tanya appeared on his head.

"I just remembered your brothers were in fact old friends of Cornelius" she said.

"It's a small Haven after all" Tetra sang.

"Stop there!"

The krimson guards had finally caught up with us; they had walked out of their zoomers and surrounded us.

"Drop the weapons" one of them said.

That's when I noticed the small gun Sirius was holding.

"Or else?" he asked, not sounding scared at all.

"Or you'll all die!" the guard said.

"Well that doesn't sound to good, does it?" Sirius said and pulled out his gun, he shot five shots at five guards and before we knew it, they were all dead.

"Wow, you're good" I said.

"I've learned it form Cornelius" Sirius said, "Timmy always lets me hold the gun, because he knows I'm better than him"

"That is so not true!" Timmy said and grabbed his giggling little brother.

"Come on, let's get out of here before they send in reinforcement" Tess said.

We walked this time; eight people running through the slums would look a bit suspicious.

"Hey! Let go of me!"  
I turned around quickly, the KG had Tess.

"No, just go" Tess yelled at us, "Save the kid and yourself".

I didn't want to leave her, but Timmy grabbed my arm, "Come on, she'll be fine" he said.

Then we were running again.

"We should split up" Simon said, "Then we wouldn't be such an easy target".

"Good idea, Sirius should go with Kor and the kid so he can protect them" Timmy said, "And stop that grinning Sirius, James goes with Simon and Tanya and I'll go with Kate and Tetra. We'll meet at the HQ afterwards."

So we all ran in different directions.

I could only trust Sirius to take care of Jak, though I had only just met the boy.

"Don't worry Kate, my brother is a tough one" Timmy assured me as we ran, "He can hit a small rock from twenty feet away when Simon throws it".

"If he's learned anything from Cornelius I'm not worried" I said.

Timmy led us into a house between the industrial areas, the sign on the door said "Sindari".

He opened the door.

"Hurry up, get in" he said.

The inside of the house looked very normal, not unlike my aunt's house really.

"Is that you Tim?" a woman's voice from the living room asked, "Is your little brothers with you?"

"Er… they ran of with some friend, I'm going to pick them up later" Timmy said, "I brought some friends home though".

The woman who had been talking appeared in the hallway.

She was probably Timmy's adopted mother.

"But Timmy my boy, have you got yourself a girlfriend?" she asked and giggled.

"No mom, please stop asking about that!" Timmy said, "This is K…"  
"Shara Sentinel" I interrupted, I didn't feel ready to reveal my real name to too many people, "And Timmy and I just met"

"And I'm Tetra" Tetra said, "Remember me?"

By the looks of it, Mrs. Sindari did remember Tetra, but that didn't make her less surprised when she saw what her son's biological sister had turned into.

"Great precursor Tetra, what happened to you?" she asked.

"It's a long story" Tetra said, "I can tell you over dinner, and please throw out anything with sugar in it"

Timmy's mother, Lilly Sindari didn't want to serve dinner before Sirius and James returned, but she still gave Tetra and I something to eat.

Tetra actually asked for rabbit-pellets, and she got it too.

"My little sister had a rabbit" Timmy said, "Unfortunately he died last week, he was old".

"You have a little sister?" I asked, "In this house I mean?"

"I have a lot of biological siblings but that doesn't mean I don't have other family" Timmy said and looked to the door.

A small girl had just appeared in the door, she looked around Jak's age.

She was holding a dog.

"Mommy! I found this little puppy can I keep it?" She asked.

"Please no more pets" her mother sighed, "What do you think Fluff would say if you got a new pet so soon after his death?"

I knew that dog!  
"Crocket! What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

The crocadog barked happily and jumped out of the girls hands.

Lilly's daughter didn't seem to mind though.

"Wow! You've got a new rabbit?" she asked.

Timmy quickly picked Tetra of the table before his adopted sister got his biological one.

"She's no pet, that's my real sister" he said.

"Like Sirius and James are your real brothers?" the girl asked, "But that's a rabbit".

"Chinbit thank you very much" Tetra said.

"She's been transformed into a chinbit" Timmy explained, "A chinchilla-rabbit-cross. But she's really an elf".

"Oh, can she kiss a prince and become normal?" the girl asked.

"Sure June, but not until full moon" Timmy said and laughed.

Suddenly the door opened again and a real sweaty Sirius entered.

"Sirius! What have you been doing?" Lilly asked.

"No time to explain" Sirius said, "They took the kid!"

I gasped.

"What are you talking about Sirius? And why are you all sweaty?" Lilly asked.

"I'll tell you later" Timmy said standing up, "We have to get to HQ, now!"

We used mr. Sindari's zoomer to get to the underground HQ which wasn't far away.

As we entered, Simon, James and Tanya were already there with Torn.

"There you are, what is this Kor is saying about the kid is missing?" Simon asked.

"The krimson guards ambushed us" Sirius said, "At least I think it was them, I wasn't able to see, and they pulled a sack over my head and just left me"

"What about Kor? He didn't seem hurt" James said.

"They thought he was just a civilian guy passing by, he got me out of the sack but the guards were already gone" Sirius said crying, "I tried, I really did"

"I know you did little brother, we don't blame you" Simon said.

"Are you nuts? The KG has Mar's heir! Who knows what they'll do to him!" James yelled, "And he was supposed to look after him! What were you doing?"

"I didn't mean to leave him!" Sirius cried, "They caught me by surprise! I couldn't see anything!"

"You should have been on guard! Cornelius would be so angry if he saw you right now!" James yelled.

Sirius didn't answer, he just kept crying.

"James, knock it of" I said, I turned to Torn who was sitting in a corner, not taking part in the conversation, "Torn, can't you do anything to stop those guys?"

"I better not" Torn answered, he just kept staring at the floor.

"What's his problem? He's been like that ever since we got here" Simon said, "He didn't even look up as we entered"

"He's just depressed" Tanya said, "I know that look, that's the look Cornelius had after he found out about his parents divorce"

"The Elfins are separated? When did that happen?" James asked, looking from Sirius to the bird.

"Another time please?" Tanya said, "Now we must figure out what to do with the kid, Shadow and Tess"

"I know someone who can save them" Timmy said, "That new kid… well, he's not exactly new anymore, but he can do the job!"  
"You're not talking about Jak are you?" Tanya asked nervously.

"Tanny, you haven't even met the guy, he might seem scary at first but he's a real nice guy when you get to know him" Simon said, "Besides he's got a cute girlfriend"

"You'd better stay clear of her Sim, she's already got two men who want her" Timmy said, "You don't want to be caught in that fight, believe me"

"Where is Jak anyway?" James asked.

"He went with Shadow" Timmy said, "He wasn't caught was he?"

"I didn't see him" I said, "I think he was inside the tomb"

"Great! I'd love to see Jak kick the baron's ass once more!" James said, "It would be much better than watching Mr Gun master here anyway", he glared at his twin brother who was still sobbing.

"It would be suicide to break into the fortress" Torn said from the corner.

"It would be suicide to sneak into Mar's tomb" Simon reminded him, "Not to mention climbing up to the baron's palace, blowing up the ammo dump or breaking out of prison. Jak did that, and more. He's even crazier than Cornelius"

"Wow! I really have to meet this one!" Tetra said.

"Just ask him Torn, just mention breaking into the fortress and I swear he will do it with no complains" Simon said, "Daxter might complain a bit but he always complains".

"We can help too, let's go see Ashelin and ask her to pull back some of the guards at the palace" Timmy said, "Are you coming too Kate?"

"No, I've got other things to do" I said, "Besides; I don't feel like walking into the KGs hands once more"

Once again we went separate ways, but this time there were no guards following us.

Crocket, Tanya and Tetra came with me.

"Where are we going?" Tetra asked.

"I'm determined to figure out what Jak and Daxter's secret is and I know exactly the woman to tell me" I said, "We're going to the bazaar".

**Miss.Ecofreak: and that was the first and possibly only chapter the Quenya Sindari/Vasa-brothers appeared in. Maybe they'll appear in the sequel.**

**Zakura: Or maybe Miss.Ecofreak manages to find a way to make them appear in future chapters. Please review and we'll be back after these messages.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: what messages?**

**Zakura: the reviews**

**Miss.Ecofreak: oh... that didn't make sense but...whatever. **


	27. The not so ancient hero

**Miss.Ecofreak: welcome back to anotherchapter which reveales things you already know.**

**Zakura: and even more.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: yeah... Here you, just read, and review later.**

**CHAPTER 36**

**THE NOT-SO ANCIENT HERO**

Kate

The bazaar was as busy as ever.

Wherever we looked, there were elves trying to get a hold on rare items or simply locals buying food.

"So, where are we going again?" Tetra asked.

"Ashelin once told me about an old soothsayer who lives in this area" I said, "Maybe she has some answers"

"Soothsayer? Yeah right. An old hag with a crystal ball can't see the past more than she can see the future" Tanya said, "They're all just fakes"  
"Come on sparrow, lighten up" Tetra said, "Don't you believe in magic?"  
"To be honest, no" Tanya said, "But I do believe in cheaters. They're all around"

Just as she said that a man with large robes stepped out of a corner.

"Want to buy some jewellery? They're cheap, made out of pure eco crystal" he whispered.

"No thanks" I said, hushing the man of.

"See? Told you so" Tanya said, "If that was eco crystal I'm a crocadog".

"Wraff!" said Crocket and wagged his tail.

Soon we found the tent were the soothsayer was living.

As we entered, it was like entering another world.

Many weird items I had never seen before hang from the walls or stood around at the table.

In the middle of the tent was an old woman, a really old woman, and at her head, some strange monkey-bird.

"Ah, Kate, I was hoping you might drop by sometime" the moncaw said as he saw us.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Onin knows" the moncaw said, "And she knows that you are troubled, your little brother is in brave danger"

"I know, but it's not exactly the reason I came" I said.

"Ah, but your question may have more in common with the problem that you know" said the moncaw, "You seek answers about an ancient hero, who might not me as ancient as you thought"

"Now you're talking nonsense (as expected)! Who are you?" Tanya asked.  
"My name is Pecker, I am Onin's interpreter" the moncaw explained, "And I am not talking nonsense, how else would I know what you wanted before you even asked the question?"

"Well you haven't answered it yet. Now who is this "ancient hero"? And what does he have to do with little Jak being missing?" Tetra asked.

"I'll tell you, but you must promise not to tell anyone" Pecker said, "If this information falls into the wrong hands. Who knows what will happen? The secret will reveal itself soon enough and you will no longer have to keep it secret"

"Tell us already!" Tanya complained.

"Fine, I know you must have heard of the legend of the dark sages, who were defeated by a true hero. That boy was indeed a relative of Mar, and of you Kate.

He appeared in Sandover village when he was just a kid, no one back then knew where he really came from, or where he went after the metalheads first attacked.

The thing is, he never went far away, he just travelled over 200 years forward in time, before he landed in the industrial area of Haven City about two years ago".

"I knew it!" I said, "But still, you said this had something to do with my brother, what did you mean?"

"I'm getting to that" Pecker said, "I told you that Jak appeared out of nowhere back in Sandover. Where do you think he came from?"  
"I don't know? Rock Village?" Tetra suggested, mentioning the neighbouring village of Sandover.

"No you stupid little rabbit! He came from Haven City" Pecker said.

I gasped, he didn't mean…?

Even Tanya seemed to be convinced now, but Tetra still didn't get it.

"Haven City wasn't built back then" she said, "He must have come from…" then it hit her, "… from the future?"

"That boy still hasn't left our time" Pecker said, "But still he has already returned. But I fear the plan will go wrong, it already has. The boy was altered with dark eco, weakening the light within which helped him defeat Gol and Maya."

"Little Jak" I whispered.

"No way" Tanya said, "That crazy lunatic… he is Kate's brother?"

Pecker nodded.

"A true heir of Mar" he said, "His eco-channelling powers is what made him a valuable weapon for Praxis. The baron has meddled with things he does not understand, if he hadn't captured Jak before, the kid could have been sent to Sandover long ago, where he would be safe. But now it is important that he stays here, so that he can unlock the powers his older self have lost".

"But the kid is gone, Praxis took him away" Tanya said.

"Oh no. Praxis does not know where the kid is" Pecker said shaking his head, "Sirius Quenya Sindari told you he never saw his attacker, so how could he know it was a KG? My guesses are that was a metalhead in disguise, some metalheads have the power to change into an elf at will. I bet your brother is in the nest now".

"Then we're all doomed" Tanya said, "There is no way they are going to keep him alive."  
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong my fellow feathered friend" Pecker said, "The metal head leader wants him alive, so that he can open the precursor stone for them"

"The stone Jak and Praxis went to find?" I asked.  
"Yes, I'm afraid Praxis has already taken it" Pecker said, "Another downfall. Onin can't see what he wants with it, even psychics have their limitations. But I'm sure Jak and his rat-friend are the right ones to get it back, they haven't failed on a mission yet"

"Will they save my brother?" I asked.

"Are you even listening? Jak, the guy with the anger issues _is _your brother, I bet the mere fact that he is here, proves he succeeded. Right Pecker?" Tanya asked.

"Nothing is certain" Pecker said, "But you might as well make a bomb shelter ready because if he fails it won't be a pretty sight"

He flew back onto Onin's hat, "Stay out of trouble Kate, when all this is over you can see your brother again, even though he's not exactly your "little" brother anymore. And when you do, you better stay clear of his dark side".

He went back to his siesta-time and we figured we might as well leave him alone.

"Well that explains a lot" Tetra said as we got out, "Sounds unbelievable, but since we've already seen the ottsel it has to be true"

"Yeah" I said, Tetra must have noticed I didn't sound exactly happy.

"What's wrong? You've got proof your brother lives so why the long face?" she asked.

"It's just something Pecker said, about the light within" I said.

"Oh yeah, what does that mean? He said something about the light within being weakened" Tetra said.

"The light within, or the pure gift as someone calls it, is a power that has been passed down from generation to generation in Mar's lineage" I explained.

"So what is it? And how do you know so much about it?" Tetra asked.

"Duh, I'm an heir of Mar myself remember? My mother told me about it when I was young. She told me that some elves, more precisely those of Mar's lineage are born with light eco within them. The light gives them the power to endure more eco than other people can. It doesn't matter if it's green, blue, red or yellow" I said.

"Or Dark?" Tanya asked.

"Mom didn't know much about that, but most scientists who have done some research on this subject mean that dark eco won't hurt your channelling abilities much, but the pure gift can't possibly be called pure anymore" I said.

"Do you mean that if someone with the light within is exposed to dark eco the light within would disappear?" Tetra asked.

"I don't know, dark eco certainly can't just kick the light eco out of your body, but Pecker said it was weakened. That's what's bothering me. The light within is an important part of an elf's personality, if that is weakened, he might get a bit… grumpy" I said.

"Sounds reasonable, from what I've heard I've never seen Jak as a happy guy" Tanya said, "But that's to be expected when you've spent two years in Ugly's prison"

"So what you're saying is that you think Jak's personality could have changed during that period?" Tetra asked.

"Precisely. Another thing is I fear he won't be able to remember me. Not because of the eco-treatment, but because he hasn't seen me in like 15 years or so" I said.

"Which sounds rather silly since he wasn't even born 15 years ago." Tetra said and giggled, "But I'm sure he remembers you. After all you are his only sister. I bet if you only go to see him he'll remember… eventually"

"I hope you are right, but maybe it's best if we wait. At least till he's figured out who he really is himself" I said.

_One day my brother, we will see each other again_ I thought as I looked up at the sky.

**Miss.Ecofreak: Yes! Hey Zak, guess how many chapters I have written of Light Within?**

**Zakura: not even one?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: er... a bit more than zero. this is the second last chapter of Growing up in Haven City, you may note like the ending but if you think it ended a bit to quickly, it's because it was not originally supposed to be story of its own, it's the prologue to the Light Within that will be uploaded as soon as I have managed to write chapter one.**

**Zakura: and the last chapter of Growing up. it's not over yet!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: review, and the last chapter will be up shortly.**


	28. The end of the beginning

**Miss.Ecofreak: this is it, the very last chapter. no more adventures with Kate and Cornelius**

**Zakura: until, say, tomorow?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay. not until the sequel. this chapter is written to tell what the main characters did after Growing Up In Haven City. Ashelin's part is completely written of the game.**

**Zakura: Enough talk. Read and review.**

**CHAPTER 37**

**THE END OF THE BEGINNING**

216. month 2

Ashelin

"Your transport is ready my lady"

"Thanks captain Brutter" I said into the com, I turned towards Torn who was sitting at the stairs up to my father's old throne, "Come on, we'll be late for the party at Daxter's new place" I said to him.

"I've got so much work to do, besides, it's not my thing" Torn said.

He can be soooo boring sometimes, time for a little wake-up call.

"Ten hut!" I yelled and he stood up so quickly he almost fell over.

"As the new governor of Haven city, I order the commander of the new Krimson guard to escort me to an official function, is that understood?" I said in my most professional tone.

"Yes sir! I mean, yes ma'am, I mean…" Torn sounded unsure.

"We can start rebuilding the city tomorrow, today, we get to celebrate with our new friends", I leaned over to him, "Besides tough-guy, I'm dying to see you dance"

"Not likely" he answered.

Kate

"Aw, come on, it will be fun" Tetra said.

"I'm not going. I don't feel like it" I answered.

"Why not? Ashelin said she was going, Tess is going, Samos is going, Daxter is obviously going and Jak will be there" Tanya said, "You know you can't avoid him forever"

We were at my aunt's house; actually we had been staying there since our escape from prison.

"I can try can't I? Besides, how do you know he even remembers me? Or anything that happened before he left Haven City?" I said.

"You won't know if you don't ask him" Tetra said.

"Fine, I'll ask... tomorrow" I answered.

"Tomorrow?" Tanya asked.

"If I can find him" I answered and lay back on my bed.

Tanya and Tetra sighed.

"She's hopeless" Tetra whispered.

Cornelius

"Hey kid, have you heard the news?"

"What? You've finally decided to get a hair cut?"

Kleiver glared at me for a moment while I just giggled as usual.

"Come on Kleiv, lighten up" I said.

"Very funny boy. We just got news from Haven City, it turns out your dear old uncle is six feet under" Kleiver said.

"Whoopee, happy times" I said, "When did that happen? Somebody finally got the guts to give him what he deserved?"

"Apparently he was killed by some metalhead, I'm not sure" Kleiver said, "Wouldn't surprise me thought, the people back in Haven City think they are so safe they forget to defend themselves when true disaster hits".

"Heard anything from my dear brother then?" I asked.

"Well, he had a nasty accident on the racing track from what I've heard" Kleiver answered, "Don't know what happened"

"I knew that reckless driving of his would get him into trouble" I said, "Well, thanks for the good news big-guy, now if you'll excuse me, I've got a heard of wild leapers waiting for me".

Erol

It hurts.

It hurts in body-parts I didn't know existed.

Actually I was surprised I had any body-parts at all, after that explosion.

Hold on a sec! Where am I?

I tried to open my eyes, or the one I had left.

I still wasn't able to see much though, there was only darkness around.

"Where am I?" I asked, though I didn't expect any answers.

"You are safe now".

I looked around in surprise, I couldn't see the one who was talking but then again I couldn't see a damn thing.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"A friend" the voice said, "We are here to help you"

"Help me? What the hell happened anyway?" I asked.

"The dark eco has damaged your body, but we can get you get a new one" the voice said, "In return of one small favour".

"What is that?" I asked.

"We want revenge" the voice said, "On the ones who created your world, and of course, we want to destroy the hero known as Jak".

"Jak? I want revenge on him too!" I said.

"Of course, that is why we choose you" the voice said, "We knew you would understand. Now, do you accept our proposition?"  
A part of me wanted to say no.

This was insane! Revenge on the precursors? But then again, if I refused I would die, and the thought of getting revenge on Jak sounded promising.

"Fine, I accept" I said.

"I knew you would say yes" the voice said, "I swear you won't regret it"

When I drove my zoomer into the eco-barrels I was sure this was the end.

I was wrong, it was just the beginning.

**Miss.Ecofreak: the end of one game, the start of another**

**Zakura: though you will not see more of Erol in Light Within, seeing it takes place between Jak2 and 3.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: if you liked this story, keep an eye up for its sequel, Light Within. If you didn't like it... then why did you bother reading it? Anyways, tell me what you think.**


End file.
